Usually, the incumbent speakers quit, when there is change of government midway.
Ruling JD(U)’s main ally RJD on Monday demanded that the current speaker Sinha, who is from the BJP, should quit in the wake of the resolution given against him by the grand alliance legislators.
“Sinha should make an honourable exit and step down. We wonder what he is trying to prove by sticking around. As per the rules, Sinha cannot preside over the assembly proceedings while a resolution for his removal is under consideration before the house,” RJD spokesperson and former MLA Shakti Singh Yadav said.
“If Sinha does not resigns from the post by the morning of August 24 and decides to preside over the house proceedings on the opening day of the two-day special session which has been convened from August 24 for seeking trust vote by Nitish Kumar-led new government; a peculiar and first-of-its kind scene would be created in the assembly. Never ever, such a situation arises in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha,” some senior legislators pointed out to TOI on Monday.
The resolution against Sinha was submitted to the assembly secretariat on August 10 under the Rule no- 110 of Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha. The resolution was jointly signed by over 55 MLAs of the RJD, JD(U), CPI-ML and other constituents of the grand alliance.
As per Rule 110 (2), “The speaker shall not preside (the house) while a resolution for his removal is under consideration.”
“Thus, the current speaker may not be able to preside over the assembly when its special session would be held on August 24 and 25, during which the new government would seek the trust vote,” senior legislators said. In the absence of the speaker, the deputy speaker Maheshwar Hazari, (who is from JD-U) would preside over the proceedings in the assembly, they pointed out.
“If Sinha does not resign and he is removed through the no-confidence resolution supported by the majority members of the house, it would be the first case in the history of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha as well as the Lok Sabha when a speaker is removed through such a move. It has never been either in the Lok Sabha or the Bihar Vidhan Sabha that a speaker is removed through a notice of removal by the members,” state’s parliamentary affairs minister and former speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary told TOI on Monday.