“For the first time in history, Deputy Speaker position vacant for two terms”: Congress President writes to PM for electing Deputy Lok Sabha Speaker

New Delhi: Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge on June 10, 2025, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate the process of electing a Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha.

In his letter, Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge said, “For the first time in independent India’s history, this position has remained vacant for two consecutive Lok Sabha terms. No Deputy Speaker was elected during the Seventeenth Lok Sabha, and this concerning precedent continues in the ongoing Eighteenth Lok Sabha. This does not augur well for India’s democratic polity and violates well-laid-out provisions of the Constitution.”

“I am writing to bring to your kind attention the highly concerning matter in regard to the prevailing vis-a-vis the vacancy of the Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha. Article 93 of the Constitution of India mandates the election of both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the House of the People. Constitutionally, the Deputy Speaker is the second-highest presiding officer of the House after the Speaker,” he said.

Article 93 of the Constitution provides as under,

“93. The Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of the People

The House of the People shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the House to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof and, so often as the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, the House shall choose another member to be Speaker or Deputy Speaker, as the case may be.”

As maybe seen in regard to the election of the Deputy Speaker, Article 93 stipulates that the House shall choose one “as soon as may be.” Traditionally, the Deputy Speaker has been elected in the second or third session of a newly constituted Lok Sabha. The procedure for this election mirrors that of the Speaker, with the only distinction being that the date for the Deputy Speaker’s election is fixed by the Speaker, as per Rule 8(1) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.

“In view of the foregoing and in keeping with the esteemed traditions of the House and the democratic ethos of our Parliament, I request your good self to initiate the process of electing a Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha without any further delay,” Shri Kharge wrote in the letter.

Earlier on June 9, 2025, Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge launched a sharp attack on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, alleging that the last 11 years under BJP rule have caused serious harm to India’s democratic institutions, economy, and social harmony.

Shri Mallikarjun Kharge further alleged that the BJP government has “weakened” constitutional institutions and “attacked” their autonomy.

The Congress President alleged that the government had created an atmosphere of “hatred, threats and fear” in the society and claimed that the exploitation of Dalits, tribals, backward classes, minorities, and weaker sections had increased, citing the Manipur situation.

Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge also attacked the BJP government over economic policies for the country, adding that this government’s major schemes like ‘Make in India’, ‘Startup India’, ‘Stand Up India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Namami Gange’, and ‘100 SMART Cities’ have “failed.”

Concluding his remarks, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge said, “The Modi government has wasted the last 11 years in rubbing the ink of dictatorship on every page of the Constitution!”