Narendra Modi has created a new history by becoming the Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms. Earlier this achievement was held by Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru. Modi even took the oath of 72 members of the full cabinet just four days after the results were announced.
According to the media, even though the ministry has not yet been divided, many people are eyeing the post of Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
This year’s cabinet has two ministers each from BJP’s close allies TDP and JDU. But the most important question is, who gets the post of Speaker of Lok Sabha?
There are reports that both the TDP and JDU, one of the kingmakers of this election, are eyeing this post. But according to BJP sources, they are not willing to leave this post in the hands of others.
How is the Speaker elected?
According to the Constitution of India, the post of Speaker is vacant immediately before the first session of the new Lok Sabha. President-appointed temporary speaker administers oath to new MPs. Later, the new speaker of the Lok Sabha was elected by majority vote. The constitution does not mention any specific qualifications for becoming Speaker. However, having parliamentary knowledge is considered advantageous. BJP had a majority in the last two Lok Sabhas. Speakers were Sumitra Mahajan and Om Birla.
A strategically important post
The post of Lok Sabha Speaker is a strategically important post. Speaker’s party is supposed to be neutral as the moderator of Lok Sabha session. However, whoever occupies this honorable position comes to the Lok Sabha as an elected representative from a particular party. Senior Congress leader N Sanjeeva Reddy resigned from the party after being elected Speaker. PA Sangma, Somnath Chatterjee and Meira Kumar have not formally resigned from the party. But they assured not to belong to any party. CPM even expelled Somnath Chatterjee from the party for taking a neutral stand. This happened during the no-confidence vote against the Congress-led UPA government in 2008.
Why NDA allies want Speaker post
Both Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar are political veterans and are seeking the post of Speaker as a ‘certainty’. Over the past few years there has been a ‘mutiny’ between the ruling parties, which has fractured the coalition. Even the government has fallen. In such cases the anti-defection law came into play and the post of Speaker became very influential.
According to the Act, the Chairman or the Speaker of the Lok Sabha has absolute power to decide on the disqualification of a member on the issue of defection.
In the past, Nitish Kumar has accused the BJP of creating divisions in his party.
And so the two senior politicians who have become important in the formation of the government do not want to face any party rebellion and they want to use the post of Speaker as a shield against any such tactics.
Source: NDTV
