Speaker of Lok Sabha

About Speaker of Lok Sabha

• The 17th Lok Sabha’s members have taken the oath of office.
• On June 19, 2019, the House will now pick a new Speaker.
• Om Birla, a two-time BJP member of parliament, is the NDA‘s choice for the position.
• Given that the National Democratic Alliance has a resounding majority in the lower house, Birla, who was elected from the Rajasthani parliamentary district of Kota-Bundi, will quickly be appointed speaker.
• The election procedure, the Speaker’s position, and his or her duties will all be covered in this episode of “In-Depth.” It will also examine the authority granted to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, who serves as both the head of the House and the guardian of the Parliamentary complex.

Regarding Om Birla

1. Om Birla served as an MP twice and an MLA three times in Rajasthan. Birla obtained her post-graduate degree in commerce from the Government Commerce College in Kota.
2. His political career began in student government. In 1979, he served as the Student Union’s president.
3. In 2003, Birla won his maiden assembly race in Kota South. In 2008 and 2013, he was re-elected twice more. In the Vasundhara Raje administration, he also held the position of Minister of State (MoS).
4. Birla is a classic example of a party worker and is very involved in the Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha, the BJP’s youth organization.
5. As the Vice-Chairman of the National Cooperative Consumer Association Limited, he is also connected to the cooperative movement in Rajasthan and played a role in the introduction of the Super Bazaar program.
6. A simple majority of the MPs present and voting in the Lok Sabha elects the speaker and deputy speaker from among its members. As a result, there are no requirements that must be met in order to be elected as the house’s spear.
7. The only requirement in the Indian Constitution is that the Speaker must be a house member.
8. In actuality, electing the speaker of the house is one of the first acts of a newly constituted house.
9. The Speaker serves as the Lok Sabha’s chief presiding officer. A simple majority of the members of the House elects the speaker and the deputy speaker.
10. The Speaker must be a house member, according to the Constitution.

Getting rid of the Speaker

• In order for the House to remove the Speaker, a resolution must be approved by an effective majority, which requires that more than 50% of the House’s members vote in favor of doing so. According to Articles 94 and 96, this is done.
• Sections 7 and 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 allow for the removal of the Speaker in the event that they become ineligible to serve as members of the Lok Sabha.
• The Deputy Speaker may accept a resignation from the Speaker as well.
• The only Speaker to have left her position is Dr. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy.
• Dr. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy also holds the distinction of having served as a Speaker before being chosen to lead India as President.
• The Parliamentary proceedings in India are presided over by a presiding official known as the Speaker because the Westminster model of government is used there.
• The Lok Sabha, the country’s highest legislative body, elects the Speaker, who is in charge of the daily operations of the House.

How is a new Speaker selected?

• A motion to elect another member as Speaker of the House may be made by any member. After then, the motions are made and put to a vote. Leaders of all political parties, including the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, congratulate the Speaker-elect when the results are made public. The proceedings of the House are then led by the new Speaker.
• The Speaker’s knowledge of the Constitution, the Rules of Procedure, and parliamentary customs is regarded as a considerable asset. This could seem that the Speaker is among the most seasoned members of the House, but this hasn’t always been the case. The Speaker of the House has occasionally been a new member of the legislature in the past. For instance, both the sixth Lok Sabha’s Speaker, Mr. K.S. Hegde, and the seventh Lok Sabha’s Speaker, Mr. Bal Ram Jakhar, were newly elected members of parliament.

What function does the Speaker of the House have?

1. The Speaker symbolizes the entire power of the House, whilst members of Parliament represent specific constituencies.
2. He or she represents the authority and dignity of the House that he or she is in charge of. As a result, it is expected that the person holding this position will behave as a loyal defender of the principles of parliamentary democracy.
3. A Speaker is endowed with vast administrative and discretionary powers, per the Indian Constitution. These consist of: presiding over the House’s meetings (or, in other words, directing the proceedings by ensuring order and decorum among the members).
4. He/she protects the privileges and rights of the members of the two Houses by, among other things, determining who should speak when, what questions should be asked, and how the proceedings should be conducted.
5. When a vote is called by the House, the Speaker does not cast a vote initially. Instead, the Speaker uses his or her vote to break a tie. Only when both sides obtain an equal number of votes does the Speaker’s vote break the tie, maintaining the objectivity of his or her position.
6. The Speaker must adjourn the House or postpone any meeting until a quorum is present if there is not a quorum present. The Speaker determines the topics to be covered during a meeting of the MPs.
7. The Speaker is given great authority to interpret the Rules of Procedure; as the Presiding Officer and a member of the House, he or she maintains order in the House.
8. The Speaker makes sure that lawmakers who act erratically are disciplined.
9. Additionally, a Speaker has the authority to exclude a member of the House due to defection. Additionally, he or she approves a number of parliamentary processes, including, among others, motions of adjournment, no-confidence, and censure. The joint session of the two Houses of Parliament is presided over by the Speaker. The Speaker is the only one who must sign off on a money bill after it has been transmitted from the lower to the upper house. He or she is granted the crucial authority to determine if a measure is a money bill, to put it another way. This choice is regarded as final.
10. A number of parliamentary committees, including the Rules Committee, the Business Advisory Committee, and the General Purposes Committee, fall within the purview of the Speaker.
11. The Speaker proposes the various Chairmen of these committees and investigates any procedural obstacles to these committees’ operations.
12. The Speaker also serves as the chairman of the Business Advisory Committee, which determines the House’s business and allots time for it. The Speaker also appoints the members who will lead other committees, including the General Purposes and Rules Committees of the Lok Sabha. Speakers have in the past helped to make the Committee system stronger. The 10th Lok Sabha’s Speaker, Mr. Shivraj Patil, was instrumental in the creation of 17 Departmental Standing Committees, enhancing Parliament’s oversight over the operation of the various government ministries.
13. The Speaker’s office is endowed with impartiality and independence because they speak for the entire House. To guarantee this impartiality and independence, the Speaker’s office must adhere to the rules outlined in the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure. The Speaker of the Fourth Lok Sabha, Dr. N. Sanjiva Reddy, formally announced his resignation from his political party because he believed that the Speaker should be unbiased because he represents the entire House. According to Article100 of the Constitution, the Speaker does not initially cast a ballot on any issue that is up for a vote. But if there is a tie during voting, the Speaker casts her ballot.