`Speakers should be elected unanimously'

`Speakers should be elected unanimously'
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, MAY 31: Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi favours unanimous election of speakers to legislative bodies to enable them to function impartially. People elected to the office of the speaker should sever their ties with political parties, he said yesterday.

Though Balayogi did not say so directly, he cited the example of speakership in the British House of Commons, which was a ``non-partisan'' position. Inaugurating the 63rd conference of the All India Presiding Officers here on Tuesday, he said that once an MP was elected to the office of the speaker, he was expected to function impartially and if he sought re-election to Parliament in the next general election, he should simply stand as ``the speaker''.

In order to ensure impartial working of the office, he stressed, it is essential that the speaker should not be subjected to compulsions of day-to-day politics. He added that a speaker's isolation and guaranteed aloofness from the mainstream of political activity would enhance the dignity of the office and enable the members to respect him as the impartial protector and guaranteer of their rights and privileges.

The conferences of presiding officers in 1951 and 1953 as well as the Page Committee appointed in 1967 favoured establishment of a convention that the seat from which a speaker seeks re-election should not be contested.

Balayogi said the complexities of present day politics had a direct bearing on the office of the speaker, even though his basic role to conduct the business of the House, according to the rules of procedure and established precedents, remained unchanged. The speaker was, however, expected to be above the pressures of party politics and conduct the House in a non-partisan manner.

As regards the third North-East Regional Commonwealth Parliamentary Association suggesting recommendations, including reduction of the present period of six months available to a non-member to get elected, Balayogi recalled the fall of the previous A.B. Vajpayee government by a single vote. The Chair, he pointed, out had ruled that it was not desirable for members appointed as ministers in a state to participate in the deliberations of the House and had left the issue of casting vote to the ``good sense'' of the member. The latter had gone ahead and cast his vote, causing the government to fall.

He also stressed the need for harmonious co-existence of the judiciary, executive and legislature, the three primary organs of the Constitution. If the three organs work at cross-purposes, the governance of the country would be in jeopardy, he added.

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker K. Pratibha Bharati said the conference aimed at improving the functioning of legislative bodies and devising the means to achieve the targeted levels. The speakers' forum would also provide an opportunity to find out solutions on legal, procedural and constitutional issues and standardise parliamentary practices.