BPSC 70th CCE Re-exam Prelims General Studies · Question 87 of 142

Correct — D, The right to vote only in case of a tie. Article 100(1) of the Constitution settles this in two sentences. The first provides that 'all questions at any sitting of either House or joint sitting of the Houses shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present and voting, other than the Speaker or person acting as Chairman or Speaker' — the Speaker is expressly excluded from the ordinary count. The second states the position positively: 'The Chairman or Speaker, or person acting as such, shall not vote in the first instance, but shall have and exercise a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes.' So the Speaker has exactly one vote, not two, and it becomes available only when the House is evenly divided. The reason is the office rather than the person. The Speaker is elected as a party member but presides over the whole House, and the surest way to keep the chair above the argument is to remove its occupant from the everyday division of votes. The casting vote is the residue: someone must break a deadlock, and the presiding officer is the obvious person, precisely because he has expressed no view. The same rule applies to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, who is the Vice-President and not a member of the House at all — the wording of Article 100(1) covers 'the Chairman or Speaker' together. There is one narrow constitutional exception, and it runs the other way, which is discussed below.

• (a)Two votes – one in ordinary course and the other in case of a tie — The most tempting wrong answer, because it describes how some other legislatures work and because 'casting vote' is often loosely spoken of as a second vote. Under Article 100(1) the Speaker does not vote in the first instance at all, so there is no first vote for the casting vote to be additional to. He forfeits the ordinary vote and receives the casting vote in exchange; the total is one, and it is conditional.
• (b)No right to vote — Too absolute. Article 100(1) does deny the Speaker a vote in the first instance, but it goes on to say in the same sentence that he 'shall have and exercise a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes'. A right that exists only in defined circumstances is still a right, and the wording is mandatory — 'shall have and exercise' — rather than permissive.
• (c)The right to vote like other members of the House — This is what the Speaker is expressly not. Article 100(1) determines questions by a majority of the members present and voting 'other than the Speaker', which removes him from the ordinary count by name. He does keep his ordinary vote in other capacities — as a member of the electoral college in a presidential election, for instance, where he votes as a Member of Parliament and not as the presiding officer.

The Speaker's constitutional position is built from a series of provisions that together make the chair independent of the majority that elected it. Article 93 provides for the election of a Speaker and Deputy Speaker by the House of the People. Article 94 governs how the office is vacated, including removal by a resolution of the House passed by a majority of all the then members after fourteen days' notice. Article 96 covers the one situation in which the ordinary voting rule is reversed: while a resolution for his own removal is under consideration the Speaker shall not preside, but he retains the right to speak and to take part, and is 'entitled to vote only in the first instance on such resolution … but not in the case of an equality of votes'. So on the question of his own removal the Speaker votes like an ordinary member and loses the casting vote — the exact mirror of Article 100. Article 97 charges his salary on the Consolidated Fund of India, putting it beyond an annual vote. Beyond the Constitution, the Speaker certifies Money Bills under Article 110(3), decides defection petitions under the Tenth Schedule, appoints the chairpersons of parliamentary committees and presides over joint sittings under Article 108.

Read this question as a choice between four descriptions of one rule and go to the source sentence. Article 100(1) says two things — not in the first instance, and a casting vote on equality — and each of the four options gets one or both of those wrong except (d). Options (b) and (c) fail on one half each: (b) ignores the casting vote and (c) ignores the exclusion from the ordinary count. Option (a) is the interesting failure because it adds the two halves together instead of substituting one for the other, and that is the misconception the question exists to catch. The general principle is worth carrying to every presiding officer in the Indian system, because the same rule appears again and again: the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the Speaker of a State Legislative Assembly, the chairperson of a panchayat or municipality — the presiding officer votes only to break a tie. The single exception is Article 96, and its logic is obvious once stated: a man should not be able to save his own office with his own casting vote.

• Article 100(1), first limb: questions are determined by a majority of votes of the members present and voting, 'other than the Speaker or person acting as Chairman or Speaker'.
• Article 100(1), second limb: 'The Chairman or Speaker, or person acting as such, shall not vote in the first instance, but shall have and exercise a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes.'
• Article 96(2) reverses this for one situation: while a resolution for his own removal is under consideration, the Speaker may speak and vote in the first instance but has no casting vote.
• Article 100(3) fixes the quorum of either House at one-tenth of its total membership until Parliament provides otherwise, and clause (4) requires the presiding officer to adjourn or suspend when there is no quorum.
• The Speaker's other constitutional functions include certifying Money Bills under Article 110(3), deciding defection petitions under the Tenth Schedule, and presiding over a joint sitting under Article 108.

• Treating the casting vote as a second vote. Article 100(1) removes the ordinary vote and substitutes the casting vote; the Speaker never has two.
• Saying the Speaker cannot vote at all. The casting vote is mandatory in its own circumstance — the Article says 'shall have and exercise'.
• Forgetting Article 96. On a resolution for his own removal the rule inverts: the Speaker votes in the first instance and has no casting vote.

BPSC gives four short descriptions of a single constitutional rule and expects the candidate to pick the one that matches the Article's wording exactly, which rewards reading the text rather than the summary. UPSC works the harder edge of the same topic — most recently the Article 96 exception, asking what the Speaker may and may not do while a resolution for his own removal is being debated.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  While a resolution for the removal of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is under consideration, the Speaker

  • (a)Shall preside over the sitting as usual
  • (b)Shall not preside, but may speak and vote in the first instance
  • (c)Shall neither preside nor speak nor vote
  • (d)Shall preside and exercise a casting vote

  Answer(b) Shall not preside, but may speak and vote in the first instance — Article 96, which also denies him the casting vote in that situation, exactly reversing the ordinary rule in Article 100.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under Article 100(3), the quorum to constitute a meeting of either House of Parliament is

  • (a)One-fourth of the total number of members of the House
  • (b)One-fifth of the total number of members of the House
  • (c)One-tenth of the total number of members of the House
  • (d)One-half of the total number of members of the House

  Answer(c) One-tenth of the total number of members of the House, until Parliament by law provides otherwise; if the quorum fails, the presiding officer must adjourn or suspend the sitting.