Since independence, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha has always been elected unopposed. So if the opposition Indian Alliance forces through elections for the 18th Lok Sabha speaker on June 26, it will mark the first time in independent India’s history that the person who holds the crucial lower house of parliament has always been chosen by agreement between the ruling and opposition parties or coalition.
Take this as an example: In 1925, elections to choose the Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Imperial Legislative Council, the legislative branch of the then British India, were held for the first time on August 24. Vitthalbhai J Patel, a leader of the Swaraj Party, won the election, defeating T Rangachariar.
Patel, the first non-official member to be elected speaker, won by a narrow margin of two votes – 58 votes for Patel and 56 for Rangacharya.
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Emboldened by its growing influence in the Lower House, the opposition “India” faction is gunning for the post of deputy speaker. By convention, if the ruling party or coalition wins the post, the deputy speaker is chosen from the opposition party or coalition in the Lower House.
Parliamentary meetings from June 24th
The date for the election of the newly elected Speaker of the House is scheduled for next week. The first session of the 18th House of Representatives will begin on June 24, during which new members of the House will be sworn in and the Speaker will be elected. The election date has been set for June 26.
The Indian Union won 233 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, while the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained power for a third consecutive term with 293 seats. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with 16 seats and the Janata Dal (U) with 12 seats are the BJP’s largest allies, winning 240 seats.
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The United India Party has also goaded the BJP’s ally TDP to hang on to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post or face the gradual disintegration of the party. “The BJP has a history of betraying its supporters,” Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said in Mumbai on Sunday.
While the JD(U), another key ally of the NDA government, has declared that it will support the BJP candidate for the Speaker of the Lower House of India, the TDP is believed to have backed a consensus candidate for the coveted post.
Six presidential elections since 1925
The post of Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly was elected six times between 1925 and 1946.
Patel was unanimously re-elected on 20 January 1927, after completing his first term, but resigned from office on 28 April 1930, following Mahatma Gandhi’s call for civil disobedience. On 9 July 1930, Sir Mohammed Yakub (78 votes) won the Speaker election, defeating Nand Lal (22 votes).
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In the Fourth Congress, Sir Ibrahim Rahimtullah (76 votes) won the election for Speaker defeating Hari Singh Gaur who got 36 votes. Sir Rahimtullah resigned on 7 March 1933 for health reasons. On 14 March 1933, Shanmukham Chetty was unanimously elected as his successor.
Sir Abdur Rahim was elected Speaker of the Fifth Assembly on 24 January 1935. Rahim secured 70 votes while TAK Sherwani managed only 62 votes.
The term of the Fifth Legislative Assembly was extended several times due to constitutional reforms and the Second World War, so Rahim served in office for more than 10 years.
The last Speaker of the House election in 1946
The last election for the post of Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly was held on 24 January 1946, when Congress leader G.V. Mavalankar won by just three votes over Qawwasji Jehangir. Mavalankar got 66 votes while Jehangir got 63.
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Mavalankar was subsequently appointed Speaker of the Constituent Assembly and the Provisional Assembly that came into force after the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950.
Mavalankar continued to serve as Speaker of the Provisional Parliament until the establishment of the Indian House of Representatives and the Indian Senate on April 17, 1952, after the first general elections.
Unbeatable since independence
Since India’s independence, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha has been elected by mutual consent of both the ruling and opposition parties. Only four people have been re-elected as Speaker since then: MA Ayyangar, GS Dhillon, Balram Jakhar and GMC Balayogi.
In 1956, after the death of Mavalankar, Ayyangar, who had been the first Deputy Speaker of the Indian Lok Sabha, was elected Speaker. He won the 1957 general election and was also elected Speaker of the second Indian Lok Sabha.
Dhillon was elected as the fourth Speaker of the Lok Sabha after the incumbent N. Sanjeeva Reddy resigned in 1969. Dhillon became the fifth Speaker of the Lok Sabha in 1971 and served in that position until 1 December 1975, when he resigned during the Emergency.
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Jakhar served as Speaker of the 7th and 8th Lok Sabha and holds the honour of being the only Speaker to serve two complete terms.
Balayogi was elected as the 12th Speaker of the Indian Parliament, a term of 19 months, and on 22 October 1999, he was elected as the 13th Speaker of the Indian Parliament, a position he held until his death in a helicopter crash on 3 March 2002.
It remains to be seen whether history will be made next week or whether history will repeat itself and the Speaker will be elected unopposed as per the agreement between the ruling NDA and the opposition Indian Union, as in the past.
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