Voting & Language in Parliament, Lame Duck Session etc.
Q. Which of the following are true?
1) Presiding officer of a House does not vote in the first instance.
2) Presiding officer can permit a member to address the House in his/her mother tongue.
3) A minister cannot participate in the proceedings of a House, of which he is not a member.
4) Those who are elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time are called lame-ducks.
5) Attorney General can take part in proceedings as well as vote in both houses due to constitutional nature of the post.- Published on 03 Mar 17a. 2, 4, 5
b. 1, 2, 5
c. 2, 3, 4
d. All of the above
ANSWER: 1, 2, 5
Voting in House -
- All matters at any sitting of either House or joint sitting of both the Houses are decided by a majority of votes of the members present and voting, excluding the presiding officer.
- Only a few matters, which are specifically mentioned in the Constitution require special majority, not ordinary majority.
- The presiding officer of a House does not vote in the first instance.
- He exercises a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes.
- The proceedings of a House are to be valid irrespective of any unauthorized voting or participation or any vacancy in its membership.
Language in Parliament -
- The Constitution has declared Hindi and English to be the languages for transacting business in the Parliament.
- However, the presiding officer can permit a member to address the House in his/her mother tongue.
- In both the Houses, arrangements are made for simultaneous translation.
- Official Languages Act (1963) allowed English to be continued along with Hindi.
Rights of Ministers and Attorney General -
- In addition to the members of a House, every minister and the attorney general of India have the right to speak and take part in the proceedings of either House, any joint sitting of both the Houses and any committee of Parliament of which he is a member.
- But they are not entitled to vote.
There are two reasons for this constitutional provision -
a. A minister can participate in the proceedings of a House, of which he is not a member.
b. A minister, who is not a member of either House, can participate in the proceedings of both the Houses.
c. It should be noted here that a person can remain a minister for six months, without being a member of either House of Parliament.
Lame-duck Session -
- It refers to the last session of the existing Lok Sabha, after a new Lok Sabha has been elected.
- Those members of the existing Lok Sabha who could not get re-elected to the new Lok Sabha are called lame-ducks.
