From CK Nayak
New Delhi: Even four months after Assembly election in the State and two sessions, the Meghalaya Assembly is without the Leader of Opposition even though the three major opposition parties – UDP, HSPDP and NPP – have as many as 14 legislators.
Following protocol, the UDP which won 8 seats and the NPP with two seats have formed the opposition alliance Meghalaya People’s Front (MPF) to claim the post of Leader of Opposition. As per rules, the strength of the Opposition should be one sixth of the Assembly’s total strength of 60 members.
But Speaker AT Mondal is in a quandary. Though the MPF number meets the requirement it is a post poll combine which may or may not be recognized by the Speaker.
There is another hitch – the opposition UDP-NPP combine has chosen James K Sangma (NPP) as it Chief Whip, who is an anathema to the ruling Congress-NCP combine. While the opposition maintains that it can choose any MLA from its group as the Opposition Chief Whip, the Government has its objection.
Had UDP named any of its MLAs as the Chief Whip, there would not have been any problem, Assembly sources said, adding that the Government has no objection to the nomination of former Chief Minister and UDP leader Dr Donkupar Roy as the Leader of the Opposition.
There is one more problem for the harried Speaker, the only non tribal MLA in the present Assembly and the first ever to make it to the top post.
The HSPDP, which has four MLAs, and is the second largest opposition group after the UDP and has twice the number of NPP legislators, has also claimed the Opposition Chief Whip’s post. The net result is that recognition to the opposition group and Leader of the Opposition has been pending.
Interestingly, Mondal himself was in a similar constitutional tangle a decade ago. He had formed a post-poll group of ten MLAs and urged the then Speaker EK Mawlong to recognize the opposition group, but the Speaker denied the plea.
Now UDP working president Paul Lyngdoh, who is currently on an official visit to London with Mondal, has urged the Speaker to take a final decision over the recognition of the Meghalaya People’s Front (MPF) as the official opposition alliance.
Incidentally, there have been instances when Assembly Speakers have recognized post poll opposition groups.
The Meghalaya Assembly has no clear cut rules as far as the post of Leader of Opposition is concerned. Its manual says that the Leader of Opposition should have the strength of the quorum of the House that is 10 (one-sixth of the total strength of 60). But the final choice has been left to the Speaker.
The preceding State Assembly had a vocal Leader of the Opposition with Conrad Sangma occupying the post. But with his defeat and the opposition failing to put up a united front, the coveted post, which is of the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister, still eludes the new Assembly.
A look into the history of Indian Parliament shows that both Houses of the Parliament have a Leader of Opposition. While the position also existed in the former Central Legislative Assembly of British India, it got statutory recognition through the Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977, which defines the term ‘Leader of the Opposition’ as that member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha who, for the time being, is the Leader of that House of the party in opposition to the Government. But it must have the greatest numerical strength and recognized, as such, by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha or the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
But in the case of Rajya Sabha until 1969, there was no Leader of the Opposition in the real sense of the term. Till then, the practice was to call the leader of the party in opposition having the largest number of elected members as the Leader of the Opposition, without according him any formal recognition, status or privileges.
The office of Leader of Opposition was given official recognition through the same Salary and Allowances of Leaders of the Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977.
This Act defines the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, as a member of the Council of States who is, for the time being, the leader in that House of the party in opposition to the Government constituting the greatest numerical strength and recognized as such by the Chairman of the Council of States.