Leader of Opposition Issue in India

Leader of Opposition Issue in India

Leader of opposition is a person who lead the official opposition to government in either house of the parliament in India. Leader of Opposition keeps check on arbitrary actions of government and suggests alternatives to the policies and acts of government.  The post of Leader of opposition existed in British era too. After independence initially there was no leader of opposition due absence of required amount of strength and statutory recognition. 

First Leader of opposition in the parliament was Ram Subhag Singh of Indian National Congress(o) in 1969. This post got statutory recognition through "Salary and Allowance of Leader of Opposition in the Parliament Act 1977". Leader of Opposition gets salaries and allowances equal to the cabinet ministers. According to the act of 1977, "leader of opposition will be the member of Loksabha or Rajysabha, who for the time being will be the leader of that house of the party in opposition of the government having greatest numerical strength and recognized as such by Chairman of Rajyasabha or Speaker of Loksabha".

Now here speaker's or chairman's recognition is an important term. And this convention established by ruling of first speaker of Loksabha Mr. G.V. Malvankar. According to his ruling, to qualify for the post of leader of opposition, a party in opposition must have at least 10% of the total seats of the house. (For loksabha its 55, because total strength of loksabha is 545.)  The ruling of G. V. Malvankar was later incorporated in Direction 121(1) of Directions of Speaker, Loksabha and Leaders and Chief Whips of Recognized Parties and Groups in Parliament (facilities) Act 1998.

A similar kind of system is present in Britain which they call Shadow Cabinet. In this system every member of cabinet has a corresponding member in opposition who will provide alternative to his policies and acts and will keep check on the arbitrary activities of government.

Current Issue:

After general elections of 16th loksabha, the BJP led NDA government came into power with huge majority(acche din). But no party in opposition could make it to 55 seats in loksabha. The single largest opposition party Congress with only 44 seats claimed for the post of Leader of Opposition. Speaker of Loksabha Smt. Sumitra Mahajan after consultation with Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi rejected the claim of Congress party citing the first speaker's ruling. But this is not the first time that we do not have Leader of Opposition in Loksabha. Until 1969 there was no Leader of Opposition. From 1980 to 1989 too there was no Leader of Opposition in the Loksabha due to less than required number of seats.

Why we require Leader of Opposition:

In appointment of various statuary posts is done on the recommendations of a panel consisting Leader of Opposition as one of the members. These posts are Lokpal, CBI Director, Secretary General of Loksabha, Central Vigilance Commissioner and Chief Information Commissioner . According to Supreme Court "The Leader of Opposition also conveys the voice of the house. It represents the views different from that of the government. If there is no leader of Opposition, the decision would not be objective. Ultimately a vacuum remains. "

Well whatever may be the rulings or acts, but the true democracy requires the presence of the Leader of Opposition to check the arbitrary actions of government and to provide a constructive criticism of the actions of government. For the true realization of "ACCHE DIN", the democratic nature of government must be maintained by having the post of Leader of Opposition. 

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Sources: Wiki, Indian Express, The Hindu, Times of India and Amar Ujala