The Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament

Lok Sabha the “House of the People”

The Lok Sabha is the popular house of the parliament because its members are directly elected by the electorates of India. All the members of this house are popularly elected, except not more than two from the Anglo-India community, who can be nominated by the President. In the Constitution, the strength of the Lok Sabha is provisioned under Article 91 to be not more than 552 (530 from the States, 20 from the Union Territories and 2 members may be nominated from the Anglo-Indian community). The numbers of seats are fixed till the year 2026 by the 84th Constitution amendment Act, 2001. According to the 104th constitutional amendment reserved seats for the Anglo-India community is the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies is now removed.Lok Sabha

Facts of Lok Sabha

  • The Lok Sabha is the lower house of the Parliament and its first sitting took place on 13 May 1952.
  • Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of seat in Lok Sabha with 80 seats.
  • The 17th Lok Sabha was elected in May 2019 and is the latest to date.
  • The Bharatiya Janata Party won 303 seats, further increasing its substantial majority and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 353 seats. with the head with Sri Narendra Modi as the leader of the Ruling party of the Lok sabha.
  • Chandrani Murmu has become the youngest member of the Lok Sabha, She was elected from the Keonjhar seat with Biju Janata Dal, Odisha.

Session of the Lok Sabha

  • Three Session of the Lok Sabha are held every year namely Budget Session (February to May); Monsoon Session (July to September); and Winter Session(November to December)
  • The maximum gap between the two sessions is 6 Month.

Special Powers of the Lok Sabha

  • Money and Financial Bills can only originate in the Lok Sabha.
  • In the case of the Money Bill, the Rajya Sabha has only the right to make a recommendation and the Lok Sabha enjoys exclusive legislative jurisdiction over the passage of the Money Bills.
  • Article 111 stipulates that money bill cannot be returned to the house by the President for reconsideration.
  • The Council of Ministers are responsible only to the Lok Sabha and hence the Confidence and Non-confidence motions can be introduced in this House only.
  • Under Article 352, the Lok Sabha in a special sitting can disapprove the continuance of a national emergency proclaimed by the President, even if the Rajya Sabha rejects such a resolution.

Tenure of the Lok Sabha

The normal tenure of the Lok Sabha is five years. But the House can be dissolved by the President ever before the end of the normal tenure. Also, the life of the Lok Sabha can be extended by the Parliament beyond the five-year term during the period of national emergency proclaimed under Article 352.

Qualifications of the member of Lok Sabha

  • He /She Should be a citizen of India.
  • They should not less than 25 years of age.
  • Be a registered voter in any of the Parliamentary constituencies in India.
  • Should not hold any office of profit.
  • Should not be insolvent.
  • Should be mentally sound.

Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha

  • The chief presiding officer of the Lok Sabha.
  • The Speaker presides over the meetings of the House and his rulings on the proceedings of the House are final.
  • The Speaker and Deputy Speaker may be removed from their offices by resolution passed by the House after a prior notice of 14 days to them.
  • The Speaker, to maintain the impartiality of his office, votes only in case of a tie that is to remove a deadlock and this is known as the Casting Vote.

Some fact about the Speaker

  • GV Mavlankar was the first speaker of the Lok Sabha (1952-1956).
  • MA Ayyangar was the first  Deputy speaker of(1952-1956).
  • Dr. Balram Jakhar was the longest serving Speaker.
  • Meira Kumar is the first woman speaker of the Lok Sabha (2009-2013)
  • The current Speaker of the 17th Lok sabha is Om Birla, Constituency Kota, Rajasthan.

Special Powers of the Speaker

  • Whether a Bill is Money Bill or not is certified only by the Speaker and his decision in this regard is final and binding.
  • The Speaker, or in his absence, the Deputy Speaker, presides over the joint-sittings of the parliament.
  • The committees of parliament function essentially under the Speaker and their chairpersons are also appointed or nominated by him. Members of the Rajya Sabha are also present in some of these committees.
  • If the Speaker is a member of any committee, he is the ex-officio chairman of such a committee.

The special position of the Speaker

  • Though he/she is an elected member of the Lok Sabha, he continues to hold his office even after the dissolution of the House till a new Lok Sabha is constituted. This is because he not only presides and conducts the parliamentary proceedings but also acts as the Head of the Lok Sabha Secretariat which continues to function even after the House is dissolved.
  • The Speaker presides over the joint sitting of the two Houses of the Parliament.
  • Speaker certifies a Bill as Money Bill and his decision is final in this regard.
  • The Speaker is the ex-officio President of the Indian Parliamentary Group which in India Functions as the national group of Inter parliament Union.

Pro tem Speaker of Lok Sabha

As provided by the Constitution, the Speaker of the last Lok Sabha vacated his office immediately before the first meeting of the newly-elected Lok Sabha. Therefore, the President appoints a member of the Lok Sabha as the Pro tem Speaker. The President himself administers oath to the Pro tem Speaker. The Pro tem Speaker has all the powers of the Speaker. He presides over the first sitting of the newly-elected Lok Sabha. His main duty is to administer the oath to the new members.

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