Which of the following statements are correct with regard to Speaker/Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha? 1. On dissolution of the Lok Sabha, both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker cease to be members of the House. 2. Both Speaker and Deputy Speaker vacate their office on dissolution of the Lok Sabha 3. Only Deputy Speaker vacates his office and Speaker shall not vacate his office until immediately before the first meeting of the Lok Sabha after dissolution Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Correct — D, 1 and 3 only. Statement 1 is right: dissolution ends the House, so every member ceases to be a member, and the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are members first of all. Statement 3 is right and states the exception written into Article 94 — the proviso says the Speaker shall not vacate his office until immediately before the first meeting of the House of the People after the dissolution. There is no such saving for the Deputy Speaker, whose office therefore falls with the House. Statement 2 says both vacate office on dissolution and is wrong for exactly that reason. Notice that statements 2 and 3 contradict one another, so at most one of them can be accepted, which kills option (b) before any recall is needed.

• (a)1 only — It rejects statement 3, which is the constitutional text itself. The proviso to Article 94 keeps the Speaker in office through the interregnum precisely so that the office is never vacant.
• (b)1, 2 and 3 — Statements 2 and 3 cannot both be true — one says the Speaker vacates on dissolution and the other says he does not. Any option that accepts both is self-defeating.
• (c)2 and 3 only — It carries the same contradiction as option (b) and also rejects statement 1, which is plainly true: dissolution dissolves the House and with it everyone's membership.

Article 94 lists the three ways the Speaker or Deputy Speaker leaves office — ceasing to be a member of the House, resigning in writing, or being removed by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members after fourteen days' notice. The proviso attached to the first of these is what this item turns on: the Speaker stays on after dissolution until just before the new House first meets. The rationale is continuity, so that there is always an authority to authenticate the House's business and to preside over the transition.

Two of the three statements are written to conflict, and spotting that is faster than recalling the article. Statement 1 concerns membership; statements 2 and 3 concern office. Separating those two ideas is the real skill — the Speaker does cease to be a member on dissolution, and still holds the office of Speaker, which is the small oddity the Constitution deliberately creates. The Deputy Speaker gets no such protection, which is why the two officers part company at exactly this point.

• Article 94's proviso keeps the Speaker in office until immediately before the first meeting of the House after a dissolution.
• The Deputy Speaker has no such proviso and vacates office when the House is dissolved.
• Dissolution ends the membership of every member, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker included.
• Removal requires a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members, after at least fourteen days' notice.
• The Speaker resigns by writing to the Deputy Speaker, and the Deputy Speaker by writing to the Speaker.

• Assuming the Speaker's office ends with his membership, which is the one case where it does not.
• Extending the proviso to the Deputy Speaker, who has no such protection.
• Missing that two statements in the set are mutually exclusive.

Asked as a three-statement item containing a built-in contradiction — a shape worth recognising, because it eliminates two options before you recall anything.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  How much notice must be given before a resolution for the removal of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha can be moved?

  • (a)Seven days
  • (b)Fourteen days
  • (c)Twenty-one days
  • (d)One month

  Answer(b) Fourteen days — Article 94 requires at least fourteen days' notice of the intention to move the resolution.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Speaker of the Lok Sabha tenders his resignation by writing to

  • (a)the President
  • (b)the Prime Minister
  • (c)the Deputy Speaker
  • (d)the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha

  Answer(c) the Deputy Speaker — under Article 94, and the Deputy Speaker in turn resigns by writing to the Speaker.