Speaker Sumitra Mahajan defends Leader of Opposition decision

Indore: A day after the Supreme Court decided to interpret the provision of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said on Saturday her denying LoP’s post to Congress was based on rules and tradition and that the apex court had made no observation against her. 

 

“The Supreme Court has questioned the Centre on the issue of Lokpal’s appointment in the absence of LoP and the Attorney General will inform the court about the government’s stand. It has made no observation against the Speaker,” she told journalists. 

 

She defended her decision of not according LoP’s status to the leader of the Congress party in the House for want of numbers. “I have taken the decision afters studying the rules and traditions and after taking experts opinion on the issue. No opposition party has more than 55. Till date the rule that a party should have a minimum of 10 per cent seats in the House (for being accorded the status of LoP) has not changed,” she said.