The second leg of the Budget session of Parliament is set to begin Monday on a turbulent note, with the Lok Sabha likely to take up an Opposition resolution seeking the removal of Speaker Om Birla, the first such attempt against a presiding officer of the House in nearly four decades.
The move is largely symbolic, given the clear numerical advantage enjoyed by the ruling alliance in the Lok Sabha. But politically, it signals a renewed effort by Opposition parties to bring their long-standing allegations of bias against the Chair on record inside Parliament and to sharpen their attack on the government over the functioning of the House.
The resolution — listed against Congress MPs Mohammad Jawed, K Suresh and Mallu Ravi — has been signed by 118 Opposition members and placed in the Lok Sabha’s list of business for Monday.
Numbers stacked against Opposition
In the 543-member Lok Sabha, the ruling NDA retains a comfortable majority. The BJP-led alliance has 335 MPs.
On the other side, the INDIA bloc and other non-NDA parties together account for around 230 MPs. The Congress is the single largest Opposition party with 99 MPs, followed by parties such as the Samajwadi Party, DMK, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), the NCP (SP), the Left parties and other regional outfits.
Even if all Opposition members vote together, the numbers fall short of the simple majority of members present and voting required to remove the Speaker under Article 94(c) of the Constitution.
For that reason, Opposition leaders privately acknowledge that the motion is unlikely to succeed. However, they see it as an opportunity to force a debate on what they describe as the increasing marginalisation of the Opposition in parliamentary proceedings.
TMC backs resolution
The political significance of the move lies in the fact that it has once again brought together a wide spectrum of Opposition parties.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has been maintaining a tactical distance from the INDIA bloc in recent months and was not initially among the signatories to the resolution, announced Saturday that it would support the motion.
That decision has helped the Opposition project a measure of unity at the start of the session, even though differences among its constituent parties remain.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, meanwhile, strongly backed Birla, and the BJP has issued a whip directing its MPs to be present in the House. The Congress has issued a similar whip to its members.
Speaker to sit among members
When the resolution comes up in the Lok Sabha, Birla will not preside over the proceedings. Instead, he will sit prominently among the members as the House takes up the notice seeking his removal.
Under the Constitution, the Speaker is entitled to defend himself when the resolution is discussed. Article 96(2) states that the Speaker has the right to speak in and take part in the proceedings while such a resolution is under consideration.
He can also vote on the resolution in the first instance. However, unlike other MPs who vote through the automated voting system from their designated seats, the Speaker will cast his vote using a voting slip because he will not be occupying the Speaker’s chair.
What do the rules say?
The process for moving such a resolution is laid down in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha.
According to Rule 201(2), the member in whose name the resolution stands must move it when called upon to do so. At that stage, no speech is permitted.
The presiding officer will then place the resolution before the House and request members who are in favour of granting leave to rise in their places.
If not less than 50 members rise, the Chair will declare that leave has been granted. The resolution must then be taken up for discussion and disposed of within 10 days of the leave being granted.
If fewer than 50 members stand in support, the motion lapses.
Given that the resolution has been signed by well over 100 MPs, the requirement of 50 members rising in support is unlikely to be an obstacle.
Once leave is granted, Rule 202 provides that the resolution will be included in the list of business on the appointed day for debate and voting.
Rare parliamentary moment
Resolutions seeking the removal of a Lok Sabha Speaker are rare in India’s parliamentary history. The first Speaker of the Lok Sabha, G V Mavalankar, faced such a motion in December 1954. Later, a similar resolution was moved against Hukam Singh in November 1966.
The most recent instance came in April 1987, when a motion was moved against then Speaker Balram Jakhar. In each of these cases, the motion failed and the Speaker remained in office.
Long-running Opposition grievance
Opposition parties — particularly the Congress — have over the years repeatedly accused presiding officers in both Houses of Parliament of favouring the government in procedural matters and limiting the Opposition’s ability to raise issues.
In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition gave notice for moving similar resolutions twice in recent years — in 2020 seeking the removal of Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh and in 2024 against then Vice President and Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. Both notices were rejected.
Opposition leaders say that even if Monday’s motion does not alter the numbers, a discussion in the House will allow them to formally place their allegations of bias against the Chair on record.
The resolution itself claims that the Speaker has “ceased to maintain an impartial attitude necessary to command the confidence of all sections of the House” and alleges that he has disregarded the rights of members while “openly espousing the version of the ruling party on controversial matters”.
Meanwhile, the Opposition is also preparing to challenge the government on its foreign policy positions, particularly in the context of the Israel-Iran tensions and India’s stance on the US “permission” allowing continued imports of Russian oil.