Kharge Urges PM Modi to Initiate Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Election

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to start the process of election of Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker.

He said that keeping this post vacant is "not good for the democratic politics of India and it is also a violation of the provisions of the Constitution."

He said, "Dear Prime Minister, I am writing to draw your attention to the extremely worrying matter prevailing regarding the vacant post of Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha. Article 93 of the Constitution provides for the election of both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Constitutionally, the Deputy Speaker is the second highest presiding officer of the House after the Speaker."

Election of Deputy Speaker should be done as soon as possible

Kharge said that traditionally the election of the Deputy Speaker has been done in the second or third session of the newly formed Lok Sabha. He said that the process of this election is similar to the process of election of the Speaker.

In his letter to the Prime Minister, Kharge reminded this
The only difference is that the date for the election of the Deputy Speaker is fixed by the Speaker as per Rule 8(1) under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. In his letter to the Prime Minister, Kharge said that there has been a Deputy Speaker in every House from the first to the sixteenth Lok Sabha.