Which of the following statements regarding the ‘casting vote’ in the Parliament is/are correct? 1. It is cast by the speaker or a person acting as such. 2. It is cast in addition to voting in the first instance. 3. It is cast in the case of equality of votes. 4. It is always cast to maintain the status quo. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a)1, 2 and 3 only
- (b)1 and 3 only
- (c)2 and 4 only
- (d)3 only
Correct — B, 1 and 3 only. Article 100(1) of the Constitution settles both halves in one sentence: '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.' Statement 1 is right, and note that the Article deliberately covers 'a person acting as such' — the Deputy Speaker in the chair, or a member from the panel of chairpersons, exercises the same power. Statement 3 is right, and it names the only trigger: the vote must be tied. Statement 2 is the trap, because it states the exact opposite of what Article 100(1) provides — the presiding officer does not vote in the first instance, and the casting vote is a substitute for that ordinary vote, not an addition to it. Statement 4 fails on the word 'always': voting to preserve the status quo is a well-established convention that presiding officers have followed, but it is a convention, not a constitutional command, and the Article imposes no direction on how the casting vote must be used.
- (a)1, 2 and 3 only — Adds statement 2, which reverses Article 100(1). The presiding officer is expressly barred from voting in the first instance; the casting vote replaces the ordinary vote rather than coming on top of it.
- (c)2 and 4 only — Keeps both of the wrong statements and drops both of the right ones — the false 'in addition to voting in the first instance' and the over-stated 'always'.
- (d)3 only — Undercounts. Equality of votes is indeed the trigger, but statement 1 is equally correct — Article 100(1) names the Chairman or Speaker or the person acting as such.
Article 100 governs voting in the Houses. Ordinary questions are decided by a majority of members present and voting, excluding the presiding officer. The presiding officer's neutrality is protected by keeping him out of the ordinary vote altogether, and he enters only when the House is exactly split. The same Article fixes the quorum at one-tenth of the total membership of the House, and allows a House to act notwithstanding vacancies or the presence of a person not entitled to sit.
Two habits of mind cause the mistakes here. One is importing the word 'extra' or 'second' from other systems, where a presiding officer may vote once as a member and again to break a tie; the Indian Constitution does not work that way, and the giveaway phrase in the stem is 'in addition to voting in the first instance'. The other is treating a convention as a rule. The convention that a casting vote should preserve the existing state of affairs — often traced to Speaker Addington's precedents in the House of Commons in 1796 — is real and is respected, which makes statement 4 feel right, but 'always' turns a practice into an obligation the text does not impose. It is also worth remembering how rarely the power is exercised at all — an exactly tied division is uncommon in a House run on party whips — which is why the item tests the words of the Article rather than any famous instance.
- Article 100(1): 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.
- All other questions are determined by a majority of votes of the members present and voting, other than the presiding officer.
- The power belongs to the office, not the individual — a Deputy Speaker or a panel chairperson in the chair exercises it.
- The convention of casting the vote so as to maintain the status quo is a practice of presiding officers, not a rule laid down by the Constitution.
- Article 100(3) fixes the quorum for a sitting of either House at one-tenth of its total membership.
- Reading the casting vote as a second or extra vote; it is the presiding officer's only vote, and it exists only when the House is tied.
- Turning the status-quo convention into a constitutional rule by accepting the word 'always'.
- Forgetting that Article 100(1) also covers 'a person acting as' Speaker or Chairman, so the power is not personal to the Speaker.
Usually as a multi-statement item where one statement flips 'shall not vote in the first instance' into 'in addition to voting in the first instance', and another over-states a convention with always or must.
Which one of the following is not a power of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha?
- (a) Speaker shall preside over the House of the People
- (b) Speaker will cast vote in the first instance in the House
- (c) Speaker will have power to maintain order within the House of the People
- (d) Speaker can adjourn the House or suspend the meeting till there is a quorum
Answer(b) Speaker will cast vote in the first instance in the House
The same rule from the same year, tested as a single option instead of a statement set. What the NDA paper marks as the Speaker's non-power — voting in the first instance — is precisely the false statement 2 in this CDS item.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under Article 100 of the Constitution of India, the quorum to constitute a sitting of either House of Parliament is
- (a)One-tenth of the total number of members of the House
- (b)One-sixth of the total number of members of the House
- (c)One-fourth of the total number of members of the House
- (d)One-half of the total number of members of the House
Answer(a) One-tenth of the total number of members of the House — fixed by Article 100(3), subject to Parliament otherwise providing by law.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament, the presiding officer is
- (a)The President of India
- (b)The Vice-President of India
- (c)The Speaker of the Lok Sabha
- (d)The Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
Answer(c) The Speaker of the Lok Sabha — Article 118(4) puts the Speaker in the chair at a joint sitting, and Article 100(1) gives that chair the casting vote if the joint sitting divides equally.