Kharge urges PM Modi to start process for electing Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker

New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him start the process of electing the deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha before the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament next month.

Lamenting that the post was kept vacant in the last Lok Sabha and in the current House so far, Kharge said not appointing a deputy speaker "does not augur well for India's democratic polity and is also in violation of the well laid out provisions of the Constitution".

Kharge's letter coincides with the government seeking Opposition support for an impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Verma in the "currency seizure" case. The INDIA bloc had taken up the demand for the deputy speaker with the Speaker during the last session.


In his letter, Kharge also subtly stressed on the Congress' claim to the post.

"From the First to the 16th Lok Sabha, every House has had a deputy speaker. By and large, it has been a well-established convention to appoint the deputy speaker from among the members of the principal Opposition party," he wrote.

After Congress initially resolved to contest for the post of the Speaker in the first sitting of the current Lok Sabha, the party agreed to opt out of the contest by withdrawing its candidate, the eight-term Dalit MP Suresh Kodikunnil, by indicating it would rather settle for him getting the deputy speaker's post in return.

Kharge also said barring the two recent exceptions, there has never been any precedent of keeping the deputy speaker's post vacant. "However, for the first time in independent India's history, this position has remained vacant for two consecutive Lok Sabha terms. No deputy speaker was elected during the 17th Lok Sabha, and this concerning precedent continues in the ongoing 18th Lok Sabha," he pointed out.

As per rules, the Speaker will initiate the move for the election of the deputy speaker once the government gives the nod.