Listen to this article:

New Delhi: The absence of a deputy speaker in the Lok Sabha for almost seven years was raised in the House on Tuesday (March 10) as it took up the no-confidence motion moved against speaker Om Birla.

Opposition members said there is a “constitutional vacuum” as the deputy speaker’s post remains vacant, and raised objections to members of the panel of chairpersons presiding over the proceedings, as they too had been nominated by the speaker.

“For the last seven years, the government is not ready to appoint a deputy speaker,” said Congress MP K.C. Venugopal referring to Article 93 of the Constitution.

Article 93 states that the Lok Sabha needs to choose two members as speaker and deputy speaker “as soon as may be”.

The Wire has reported that while the 17th Lok Sabha, in a first, ended without a deputy speaker, almost two years into the 18th Lok Sabha’s tenure too the post remains vacant.

According to the Statistical Handbook of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the deputy speaker has been elected within a few weeks of the House taking oath at the most. The longest it has taken till date to elect a deputy speaker was during the 12th Lok Sabha when it took 270 days to elect P.M. Sayeed to the post when G.M.C. Balayogi was speaker.

While there have been three instances of no-confidence motions being moved against the speaker in the past – in 1954, 1966 and 1987 – in none of these instances was the post of deputy speaker vacant.

“Immediately after the election, the speaker and deputy speaker [have] to be elected,” said Venugopal. “You have created a constitutional vacuum.”

Opposition MPs also objected to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP........

© The Wire