The Speaker of the Lok Sabha enjoys

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

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.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) 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) 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) 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.

Concept: 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.

State PCS 2025 Q87 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q87 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer