Outgoing speaker’s decision questioned

Governor raises issue of properiety on LoP

LUCKNOW: A day before the filing of nomination for the election of new Speaker of the 17th Vidhan Sabha, governor Ram Naik questioned the propriety of the outgoing speaker’s decision to recognise SP leader Ram Govind Chaudhary as the leader of opposition. The outgoing speaker Mata Prasad Pandey had recognised Chaudhary as the leader of opposition (LoP) on Monday.

Nominations for the post of new speaker will be filed on Wednesday and the election, if necessary, will take place on Thursday. Traditionally, the speaker is elected unopposed.

Taking a strong exception to Pandey’s decision, the governor sent a message to the newly-constituted Vidhan Sabha under Article 175 (2) of the Constitution of India.

In his message, the governor said the 17th Vidhan Sabha should consider “democratic and constitutional propriety” of the decision of the outgoing speaker (of 16th Vidhan Sabha) to recognise Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary as the leader of opposition on March 27, 2017 just before the end of his term. “There is no precedence of recognising the leader of opposition by the outgoing speaker (who lost the election and is not a member of the new house) in any state of India. The Vidhan Sabha secretariat’s notification did not clarify why the decision to recognise LoP was not left to the new Vidhan Sabha,” the governor’s message said.

He said recognition to the leader of opposition was the discretion of the speaker and not a constitutional binding. “The Vidhan Sabha secretariat’s notification did not clarify what kind of constitutional void or crisis would have been created if the decision had been left to the new speaker,” Naik said.

This may, however, not be for the first time that an outgoing speaker had recognised the leader of opposition before end of his term. “The outgoing speaker had recognised the LoP in 2012 as well,” said a senior officer on condition of anonymity.