- विज्ञापन -
New Delhi: In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP formed a government with a full majority. Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of the country for the first time. The government then made Kamal Nath of Congress, the most senior MP of the Lok Sabha, the Protem Speaker. Kamal Nath administered the oath to all the MPs, including Narendra Modi. In 2019, Virendra Kumar of the BJP was the most senior MP, so he was made the Protem Speaker.
In this 18th Lok Sabha, BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab becomes Protem Speaker. There has been controversy over making Bhartruhari Mahtab the Protem Speaker in 2024. Congress has said that ‘this is a bulldozer mentality. The government has been creating trouble from day one.’ There has been a tradition of making the most senior MP (not in age but in tenure) the Protem Speaker in the Lok Sabha, while there are MPs senior to him in the Lok Sabha.
What is a protem speaker is, why he was chosen, who Bhartruhari Mahtab was chosen this time, and whether the government has broken this parliamentary tradition for the first time.
Question: What is a protem speaker, and who was chosen this time?
Answer: When the first session is held after the Lok Sabha elections, there is no Speaker to run the Parliament at that time. For this, a temporary post of Protem Speaker has been created. The Protem Speaker administers oaths to the new MPs, gets the Lok Sabha Speaker elected, and carries out all the responsibilities until the election of the new Speaker.
There is no mention of Protem in the Constitution, but the official handbook on the functioning of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has written about the appointment and oath-taking of the Protem Speaker.
Usually, the most senior and experienced leader of the house is made the protem speaker. Even if he is an MP from the opposition, however, there is no such written rule. The Protem Speaker is appointed by the President on the advice of the Cabinet. The President also administers the oath.
This oath-taking ceremony takes place in a room at Rashtrapati Bhavan. In this simple ceremony, the PM, ministers of the government, the leader of the opposition, and senior MPs of the house are present. This time, Bhartrihari Mahtab has been made the proverbial speaker.
Question: If Bhartrihari Mahtab is such a senior MP, then what objection does Congress have?
Answer: Actually, there has been a tradition of making the most senior MP of the house, i.e., the MP elected the most number of times, the Protem Speaker. There is no written constitution for this, but this tradition has been going on since the first Lok Sabha.
This time, there were two MPs in the race for the Protem Speaker. One was Virendra Kumar of the BJP, and the other was Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress. Virendra Kumar is elected from Tikamgarh in MP, while Kodikunnil Suresh is from Mavelikkara in Kerala. Both are eight-time MPs.
Virendra Kumar was the keynote speaker last time too. This time he has been made a minister at the center, so he cannot be made the problem speaker.
According to tradition, Kodikunnil Suresh of Congress should have gotten the chance. The Congress says that the BJP has broken the parliamentary tradition that has been going on for years. This is the reason it is angry.
Question: How was the first Protem Speaker elected in the country?
Answer: Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar was made the first Protem Speaker of the country. He presided over the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly. When the first assembly was held in 1946, a protem speaker was needed to elect the speaker. Then it was discussed that a senior leader should be chosen as the project speaker.
Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar was not only a senior politician but also a leader with vast experience and reputation. He was also the Speaker of the Bombay Presidency Legislative Assembly at that time, due to which he had good experience with parliamentary proceedings. He did not even need to be taught or told much.
Everyone took his name unanimously, and he was elected Protem Speaker. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel also agreed to this. Mavalankar presided over the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly. After the members took the oath, the MPs later elected him as the permanent speaker. In this way, he also became the first speaker of an independent India.
Question: Is there a pro-tem speaker only at the beginning of the Lok Sabha?
Answer: No. The need for a pro-tem speaker can also arise in the middle of the Lok Sabha. If both the speaker and the deputy speaker of the House die or resign while in office, a new pro-tem speaker is elected.
