DEPUTY SPEAKER

• Article 93 of the Constitution provides for the election of both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.
• The constitutional office of the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha is more symbolic of parliamentary democracy than some real authority.
• There is no need to resign from their original party though as a Deputy Speaker, they have to remain impartial.

2.1 Roles and functions:

They act as the presiding officer in case of leave or absence caused by death or illness of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

2.2 Election:

Usually, the Deputy Speaker is elected in the first meeting of the Lok Sabha after the General elections from amongst the members of the Lok Sabha. It is by convention that position of Deputy Speaker is offered to opposition party in India.

2.3 Tenure and removal:

3. How soon must the Deputy Speaker be elected?

• “As soon as may be”, say Articles 93 and 178. But they do not lay down a specific time frame.
• In general, the practice in both Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies has been to elect the Speaker during the (mostly short) first session of the new House -usually on the third day after the oath-taking and affirmations over the first two days.
• The election of the Deputy Speaker usually takes place in the second session and is generally not delayed further in the absence of genuine and unavoidable constraints.
• Rule 8 of The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha says the election of Deputy Speaker “shall be held on such date as the Speaker may fix”.
• The Deputy Speaker is elected once a motion proposing his name is carried in the House.
  Once elected, the Deputy Speaker usually continues in office for the entire duration of the House.
• Under Article 94 (Article 179 for state legislatures), the Speaker or Deputy Speaker “shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the House”.
• They may also resign to each other, or “may be removed from office by a resolution of the House of the People passed by a majority of all the then members of the House”. 

4. Do the powers of the Speaker extend to the Deputy Speaker as well?

• Article 95(1) says: “While the office of Speaker is vacant, the duties of the office shall be performed by the Deputy Speaker”.
• In general, the Deputy Speaker has the same powers as the Speaker when presiding over a sitting of the House.
• All references to the Speaker in the Rules are deemed to be references to the Deputy Speaker when he presides.
• It has been repeatedly held that no appeal lies to the Speaker against a ruling given by the Deputy Speaker or any person presiding over the House in the absence of the Speaker. 

5. Position of the Union government on the current vacancy in the post of Deputy Speaker

• The Treasury benches have maintained there is no “immediate requirement” for a Deputy Speaker as “bills are being passed and discussions are being held” as normal in the House.
• A Minister argued that “there is a panel of nine members senior, experienced, and selected from different parties who can act as chairpersons to assist the Speaker to run the House”.
• This panel of nine has Rama Devi, Kirit P Solanki, and Rajendra Agrawal of the BJP; Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress; A Raja of the DMK; P V Midhun Reddy (YSRCP); Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD); N K Premachandran (RSP); and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (TMC).
• Courts usually don’t intervene in the procedural conduct of Parliament. Article 122(1) says: “The validity of any proceedings in Parliament shall not be called in question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure.” 
• However, experts said that the courts do have jurisdiction to at least inquire into why there has been no election to the post of Deputy Speaker since the Constitution does envisage an election “as soon as may be”. 

For Prelims & Mains