The Speaker of the Lok Sabha (IAST: ) is the presiding officer and the highest authority of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The speaker is elected generally in the first meeting of the Lok Sabha following a general election and ranks 6th in the Order of precedence in India.
The speaker does not enjoy security of tenure and their term is subject to the pleasure of the house i.e. they can be removed anytime by a resolution of the Lok Sabha by a majority of the all the Members of the house. The longest-serving speaker was Balram Jakhar, whose tenure lasted for 9 years and 329 days.
Election of the speaker Newly elected Members of Parliament from the Lok Sabha elect the Speaker among themselves. The Speaker should be someone who understands how the Lok Sabha functions and the speaker should be someone accepted among the ruling and opposition parties.
After the general elections, the President of India notifies the first meeting of the Lok Sabha as well as the date for the election of the Speaker. Generally either on the day of the election of the Speaker or a day before it, the Prime Minister or the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs proposes the name of the candidate. Any other candidate may also submit their names . There have been four instances viz. 1952, 1967, 1976, and 2024 when there were elections to the speaker post. If only one name is proposed, the Speaker is elected without any formal vote. However, if more than one nomination is received, a division is called through voice voting by all members. The successful candidate is elected as Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Powers and functions of the speaker
The Speaker of the Lok Sabha conducts the business in house, and decides whether a bill is a money bill or not. They maintain discipline and decorum in the house and can punish a member for unruly behaviour with respect to law after suspending them. They also permit the moving of various kinds of motions and resolutions such as a motion of no confidence, motion of adjournment, motion of censure and calling attention notice as per the rules. The Speaker decides on the agenda to be taken up for discussion during the meeting. The date of election of the Speaker is fixed by the President. Further, all comments and speeches made by members of the House are addressed to the Speaker. The Speaker also presides over the joint sitting of both houses of the Parliament of India. The counterpart of the Speaker in the Rajya Sabha (Council of the States) is its Chairperson; the Vice-President of India is the ex-officio chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. On the order of precedence, the Speaker of Lok Sabha ranks sixth, along with the Chief Justice of India. The Speaker is answerable to the House. Both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker may be removed by a resolution passed by the majority of the members. Lok Sabha Speaker can be elected by President on a nomination basis.
All bills passed requires the speaker's signature to go to the Rajya Sabha for its consideration. The Speaker also has a casting vote in the event of a tie. It is customary for the Presiding Officer to exercise the casting vote in such a manner as to maintain the status quo.
Removal of the speaker Speaker can be removed by the Lok Sabha by a resolution passed by the majority of all the then members of the house as per Constitution of India [Articles 94].
The Speaker is also removed on being disqualified for being Lok Sabha member under sections 7 and 8 of Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Pro tem speaker After a general election and formation of a new government, a list of senior Lok Sabha members prepared by the Legislative Section is submitted to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, who forwards the name to the President of India. The President of India appoints the pro tem Speaker.
The first meeting after the election when the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are selected by members of the Parliament is held under the pro tem Speaker. In absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker acts as Speaker and in the absence of both a committee of six members selected by the Speaker will act as Speaker according to their seniority.
Eligibility for Speaker of the Lok Sabha include:
Being a citizen of India; Not be less than 25 years of age; Not holding any office of profit under the Government of India, or a state government; and Not being a Criminal Offender. List of pro tem speakers PortraitSpeaker ConstituencyTerm of officePolitical party Lok Sabha Minister of Parliamentary Affairs From To Period 13 Anant GeeteRatnagiri 20 October1999 22 October1999Shiv Sena 13th Pramod Mahajan 15 Manikrao Hodlya Gavit Nandurbar 31 May2009 4 June2009 Indian National Congress 15thPawan Kumar Bansal 16Kamal NathChhindwara11 June201415 June2014 16thVenkaiah Naidu17Virendra Kumar KhatikTikamgarh17 June201919 June2019 Bharatiya Janata Party17thPralhad Joshi18Bhartruhari MahtabCuttack24 June 202426 June 202418thKiren Rijiju
List Note: Died in office Resigned
PortraitSpeaker ConstituencyTerm of officePolitical party Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker From To Period1G. V. MavalankarAhmedabad15 May195227 February1956 Indian National Congress 1st M. A. Ayyangar 2 M. A. Ayyangar Chittoor8 March19564 April1957 Hukam Singh5 April195731 March19622nd3Hukam SinghPatiala17 April196216 March19673rdS. V. Krishnamoorthy Rao4Neelam Sanjiva ReddyHindupur17 March196719 July1969 4th Raghunath Keshav Khadilkar 5 Gurdial Singh Dhillon Tarn Taran 8 August1969 17 March1971 Indian National Congress (R) G. G. Swell22 March19711 December1975 5th6Bali Ram BhagatShahabad15 January197625 March1977(4)Neelam Sanjiva ReddyNandyal26 March197713 July1977 Janata Party 6th Godey Murahari7K. S. HegdeBangalore South21 July197721 January1980 8 Balram JakharFerozpur22 January198015 January1985 Indian National Congress (I)7thG. LakshmananSikar16 January198518 December19898thM. Thambidurai9Rabi RayKendrapara19 December19899 July1991Janata Dal9thShivraj Patil10Shivraj PatilLatur10 July199122 May1996Indian National Congress (I)10thS. Mallikarjunaiah11P. A. SangmaTura23 May199623 March1998Indian National Congress11thSuraj Bhan 12 G. M. C. Balayogi Amalapuram24 March199819 October1999 Telugu Desam Party12th P. M. Sayeed22 October19993 March2002 13th13Manohar JoshiMumbai North Central10 May20022 June2004 Shiv Sena14Somnath ChatterjeeBolpur4 June200431 May2009Communist Party of India (Marxist)14thCharanjit Singh Atwal15Meira KumarSasaram04 June200904 June2014Indian National Congress15thKariya Munda16Sumitra MahajanIndore06 June201417 June2019 Bharatiya Janata Party16thM. Thambidurai17Om BirlaKota19 June201924 June2024 17thVacant 26 June2024Incumbent 18th
Statistics #Speaker of the Lok SabhaPartyTermsLength of term Longest tenure Total tenure 1 Balram Jakhar 2 4 years, 359 days 9 years, 329 days 2 Om Birla 2 5 years, 5 days 3 Gurdial Singh Dhillon 2 4 years, 254 days 6 years, 110 days 4 M. A. Ayyangar 2 4 years, 360 days 6 years, 22 days 5 Sumitra Mahajan 1 5 years, 11 days 6 Meira Kumar 1 5 years, 0 days 7 Somnath Chatterjee 1 4 years, 361 days 8 Hukam Singh 1 4 years, 333 days 9 Shivraj Patil 1 4 years, 317 days 10 G. M. C. Balayogi 2 2 years, 132 days 3 years, 342 days 11 Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar 1 3 years, 288 days 12 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy INC/JP 2 2 years, 124 days 2 years, 233 days 13 K. S. Hegde 1 2 years, 184 days 14 Manohar Joshi 1 2 years, 23 days 15 P. A. Sangma 1 1 years, 304 days 16 Rabi Ray 1 1 years, 202 days 17 Bali Ram Bhagat 1 1 years, 70 days
See also Vice President of India (Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha) Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha Leader of the House in Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Secretary General of the Lok Sabha
References
External links