Leader of the Opposition (India)

Leader of the Opposition (India)

Leader of the Opposition of India

Emblem of India
Incumbent
None (No opposition with more than 10% seats) (in Lok Sabha)
Ghulam Nabi Azad (in Rajya Sabha)
Website

www.parliamentofindia.nic.in

[1]

The Leader of the Opposition is the politician who leads the official opposition in either House of the Parliament of
India.
While the position also existed in the former Central Legislative Assembly of British India, and holders of it there
included Motilal Nehru, it received statutory recognition through the Salary and Allowances of Leaders of
Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977 which defines the term "Leader of the Opposition" as that member of the Lok
Sabha or the Rajya Sabha who, for the time being, is the Leader of that House of the Party in Opposition to the
Government having the greatest numerical strength and recognized, as such, by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha or
the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. However, in order to get formal recognition, the concerned party must have at least
10% of the total strength of the House (55 seats in the Lok Sabha). If any party fails to get 10% seats in opposition,
the House will not have recognized leader of the opposition.[2] The post of Leader of the Opposition can only be
awarded to the leader of a single political party and not to the leader of an alliance, even if the alliance was formed
prior to the election. This means that a single party would have to meet the 10% seat criteria, not an alliance.[3]
The Leader of the Opposition enjoys the rank of a Cabinet Minister. In cases where there is no officially recognized
Leader of the Opposition, the leader of the single largest group in opposition will discharge the role of leader of
opposition. However, leader of the largest group in does not receive the salaries and allowances that an officially
recognized one would enjoy.[4]
The Leader of the Opposition serves on several important committees, including the selection panels for the Chief
Vigilance Commissioner, Central Bureau of Investigation Director and members of the Lokpal national human right
commission members and chairman and chief information commissioners. Central vigilance Commission Act, 2003,
clause 4, explicitly provides for the leader of the single largest group in opposition to be inducted as a member of the
selection committee in a scenario where the lower house of parliament does not have a recognized leader of the
opposition.[5]

Leader of the Opposition (India)

Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha had no recognised Leader of the Opposition until 1969 (Except A.K. Gopalan in the First Lok
Sabha). The post was also vacant between 1980 and 1989.[6]
Name

Party

Term
[7]

Lok Sabha

Vacant

No official opposition

26 January 1952 4 March 1967

First
Second
Third

Vacant

No official opposition

4 March 1967 12 December 1969

Fourth

Ram Subhag Singh

Indian National Congress (O) 17 December 1969 27 December 1970

Vacant

No official opposition

27 December 1970 31 June 1977

Fifth

Y. B. Chavan

Indian National Congress

1 July 1977 11 April 1978

Sixth

C. M. Stephen

12 April 1978 9 July 1979

Y. B. Chavan

1028 July 1979

Jagjivan Ram

Janata Party

29 July 22 August 1979

Vacant

No official opposition

22 August 1979 18 December 1989

Rajiv Gandhi

Indian National Congress

18 December 1989 23 December 1990 Ninth

L. K. Advani

Bharatiya Janata Party

24 December 1990 13 March 1991

21 June 1991 26 July 1993

Seventh
Eighth

Tenth

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

26 July 1993 10 May 1996

P. V. Narasimha Rao Indian National Congress

1631 May 1996

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bharatiya Janata Party

1 June 1996 4 December 1997

Sharad Pawar

19 March 1998 26 April 1999

Twelfth

13 October 1999 6 February 2004

Thirteenth

22 May 2004 18 May 2009

Fourteenth

21 December 2009 - 19 May 2014

Fifteenth

4 June 2014 - Present day

Sixteenth

Indian National Congress

Sonia Gandhi
L. K. Advani

Bharatiya Janata Party

Sushma Swaraj
Vacant

No official opposition

Eleventh

[8]

Source:

List of Leaders of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha

In Rajya Sabha until 1969, there was no Leader of the Opposition in real sense of the term. Till then, the practice was
to call the Leader of the party in Opposition having the largest number of the members as the Leader of the
Opposition, without according him any formal recognition, status or privilege. The office of Leader of the
Opposition was given official recognition through the Salary and Allowances of Leaders of the Opposition in
Parliament Act, 1977. This Act defines the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, as a member of the Council of
States who is, for the time being, the Leader in that House of the party in opposition to the Government constituting
the greatest numerical strength and recognized as such by the Chairman of the Council of States. Thus, the Leader of
the Opposition should satisfy three conditions, namely, (i) he should be a member of the House (ii) the Leader in
Rajya Sabha of the party in opposition to the Government having the greatest numerical strength and (iii) be
recognized as such by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha.
Following members have been the Leaders of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.[9]

Leader of the Opposition (India)

Name

Party

Term

Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra Indian National Congress (O) December 1969 March 1971

M. S. Gurupadaswamy

Kamalapati Tripathi

Indian National Congress

Bhola Paswan Shastri

Indian National Congress (O) 24 February 1978 23 March 1978

Kamalapati Tripathi

Indian National Congress

23 March 1978 8 January 1980

L. K. Advani

Bharatiya Jana Sangh

21 January 1980 7 April 1980

P. Shiv Shankar

Indian National Congress

18 December 1989 2 January 1991

M. S. Gurupadaswamy

Janata Dal

28 June 21 July 1991

S. Jaipal Reddy

March 1971 April 1972

30 March 1977 15 February 1978

22 July 1991 29 June 1992

10 Sikander Bakht

Bharatiya Janata Party

7 July 1992 23 May 1996

11 Shankarrao Chavan

Indian National Congress

23 May 1996 1 June 1996

12 Sikander Bakht

Bharatiya Janata Party

1 June 1996 19 March 1998

13 Manmohan Singh

Indian National Congress

21 March 1998 21 May 2004

14 Jaswant Singh

Bharatiya Janata Party

3 June 2004 16 May 2009

15 Arun Jaitley
16 Ghulam Nabi Azad

3 June 2009 26 May 2014

Indian National Congress

8 June 2014 - incumbent

References
[1] http:/ / www. parliamentofindia. nic. in
[2] Parliament Of India (http:/ / legislativebodiesinindia. nic. in/ PARLIAMENT OF INDIA. htm). Legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in. Retrieved on
2014-05-21.
[3] http:/ / www. thehindu. com/ news/ national/ new-house-cannot-have-opposition-leader/ article6034355. ece
[4] http:/ / www. hindustantimes. com/ elections2014/ state-of-the-states/ congress-stares-at-losing-opposition-leader-status/ article1-1219826.
aspx
[5] http:/ / cvc. nic. in/ cvcact. pdf
[6] http:/ / www. thehindu. com/ news/ national/ new-house-cannot-have-opposition-leader/ article6034355. ece
[7] http:/ / www. rediff. com/ news/ column/ ls-election-no-leader-of-oppn-there-wasnt-any-in-nehru-indira-rajiv-days/ 20140523. htm
[8] Lok Sabha (http:/ / legislativebodiesinindia. nic. in/ LS/ ataglace. htm). Legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in. Retrieved on 2014-05-21.
[9] Rajya Sabha Introduction (http:/ / rajyasabha. nic. in/ rsnew/ about_parliament/ rajya_sabha_introduction. asp). Rajyasabha.nic.in. Retrieved
on 2014-05-21.

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