In News
- Recently ,the Maharashtra government deferred its decision to hold the election of the state Legislative Assembly Speaker after a legal opinion that confrontation with the Raj Bhavan be avoided.
- The Speaker’s post is lying vacant since February 2021 , after Nana Patole, who was elected to the constitutional position in end-2019, resigned to take charge as the state Congress chief.
About Election of the Speaker of the Assembly
- Article 178 of the Constitution states:
- Every Legislative Assembly of a State shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the Assembly to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof and, so often as the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, the Assembly shall choose another member to be Speaker or Deputy Speaker, as the case may be.
- Process of holding elections:
- The Constitution does not specify the process of holding these elections; that is left to the state legislatures.
- It also does not set a timeframe other than to say the elections should be held “as soon as may be”.
- Some states lay down timeframes:
- In Haryana for example, the election of the Speaker must be held as soon as possible after the Assembly election, and the Deputy Speaker must be elected within another seven days.
- In Uttar Pradesh, the Speaker’s election is required to be held within 15 days if the post falls vacant during the term of the Assembly.
- Date of election:
- The date for the Speaker’s election is notified by the Governor.
- As per Rule 6 of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules, the Governor shall fix a date for the holding of the election and the Secretary shall send to every member notice of the date so fixed.
- The election of the Speaker can take place only after the Governor fixes the date for it.
Recent Amendments moved by Maharashtra government
- The government moved a motion in the Assembly seeking amendments to Rules 6 (election of Assembly Speaker) and 7 (election of Deputy Assembly Speaker) by voice vote instead of a secret ballot.
- The amendments were proposed by the Rules Committee of the legislature.
- The amendments excluded the words “holding of the election” and included the words “to elect the Speaker on the recommendation of the Chief Minister” in Rule 6 of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules.
- The amendments also replaced the provision of election of the Speaker by “secret ballot” with “voice vote”.
- Objections to these amendments:
- The Opposition also argued that the Rules cannot be amended in the absence of the Speaker.
- It would not be appropriate to proceed with the election in view of the fact that 12 lawmakers of the party had been suspended for a year during the Monsoon Session held in July 2021.
- Maharashtra the government’s position:
- It has argued that the amendments are in line with the Rules that are in practice in Lok Sabha, the Upper House of the state legislature, and in the Assemblies of a several others states.
- The amendments would put an end to horse-trading.
Conclusion
- Rule 6 mandates that the Governor should fix the date for the election, the amendment says that the Governor should fix the date on the advice on the CM.
- It is a conflict between two constitutional entities.
Source:IE
