Speaker Should be Free and Fair

Not chained to a party

In democracy everyone has a right to his opinion. That is true of a Speaker in Parliament. It was in exercise of this right of hers that the new Speaker of Lok Sabha, Mrs. Meira Kumar expressed the opinion that there "is not constitutional requirement for the Lok Sabha Speaker to resign from his or her political party on assuming office". (The Hindu, June 7).

That is true also. But equally true is - and she and her predecessors too subscribed to this view - that a speaker must be fair, free, impartial and non-partisan. He or she should not only be so but should also appear to be so. Many of her predecessors did resign - and they were not wrong too -- from the party on whose ticket they had been elected to only to ensure that they were not only partial to or soft towards their party, but also looked to be so.

The Constitution did not provide many things. It left to be good sense of the noble souls later to evolve healthy traditions. In the course of time, the institutions of the Constitution established certain norms and precedents to enhance the stature and esteem of the office people came to hold. The office of the Speaker was one such office. The Constitution did provide for the office but did not provide that the incumbent should be a no party man.  She cites the example of Mr. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and Dr. Balayogi who resigned from their party on their own. But they could not be wronged for this discretion of theirs.

Last update : 09-06-2009 17:09

Keywords : Speaker Should be Free and Fair, Amba Charan Vashishtha

Average user rating

   (0 vote)