Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha

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The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha (IAST: Lok Sabhā ke Vipakṣa ke Netā) is an elected Member of Lok Sabha who leads the official opposition in the Lower House of the Parliament of India. The Leader of the Opposition is the parliamentary chairperson of the largest political party in the Lok Sabha that is not in government (provided that said political party has at least 10% of the seats in the Lok Sabha). The post is vacant since 26 May 2014, as no opposition party has 10% Seats. Also, leader of opposition is not a constitutional post and officially recognised in “The salary and allowance of Leader of opposition act, 1977”.

History

In Lok Sabha until 1969, there was de facto opposition leader with no formal recognition, status or privilege. Later, the leader of the opposition was given official recognition and their salary and allowances was extended by the Act, 1977. Since then, the leader in the Lok Sabha should satisfy three conditions, namely,

1. he should be a member of the House
2. of the party in opposition to the Government having the greatest numerical strength and
3. be recognised by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha

In December 1969, the Congress Party (O) was recognised as the main opposition party in the parliament while its leader, Ram Subhag Singh plays the role of opposition leader.

List of leaders of the opposition in Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha did not recognise an official Leader of the Opposition until 1969. The position was also vacant between 1980 and 1989 and at present, since 2014.^[1]

No.	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Tenure			Lok Sabha	Prime Minister	Party
1		Ram Subhag Singh	Buxar	17 December 1969	27 December 1970	1 year, 10 days	4th	Indira Gandhi	Indian National Congress (O)
–	–	Vacant		27 December 1970	30 June 1977		5th		No official opposition
2		Yashwantrao Chavan	Satara	1 July 1977	11 April 1978	284 days	6th	Morarji Desai	Indian National Congress
3		C. M. Stephen	Idukki	12 April 1978	9 July 1979	1 year, 88 days
(2)		Yashwantrao Chavan	Satara	10 July 1979	28 July 1979	18 days
4		Jagjivan Ram	Sasaram	29 July 1979	22 August 1979	24 days		Charan Singh	Janata Party
–	–	Vacant		22 August 1979	31 December 1984		7th	Indira Gandhi	No official opposition[2]
				31 December 1984	18 December 1989		8th	Rajiv Gandhi
5		Rajiv Gandhi	Amethi	18 December 1989	23 December 1990	1 year, 5 days	9th	VP Singh	Indian National Congress
6		L. K. Advani	New Delhi	24 December 1990	13 March 1991	2 years, 214 days		Chandra Shekhar	Bharatiya Janata Party
			Gandhinagar	21 June 1991	26 July 1993		10th	P. V. Narasimha Rao
7		Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Lucknow	21 July 1993	10 May 1996	2 years, 289 days
8		P. V. Narasimha Rao	Berhampur	16 May 1996	31 May 1996	15 days	11th	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Indian National Congress
(7)		Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Lucknow	1 June 1996	4 December 1997	1 year, 186 days		IK Gujral	Bharatiya Janata Party
9		Sharad Pawar	Baramati	19 March 1998	26 April 1999	1 year, 38 days	12th	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Indian National Congress
10		Sonia Gandhi	Amethi	31 October 1999	6 February 2004	4 years, 98 days	13th
(6)		L. K. Advani	Gandhinagar	21 May 2004	18 May 2009	4 years, 362 days	14th	Manmohan Singh	Bharatiya Janata Party
11		Sushma Swaraj	Vidisha	21 December 2009	19 May 2014	4 years, 149 days	15th
–	–	Vacant		20 May 2014	29 May 2019		16th	Narendra Modi	No official opposition[1][3]
				30 May 2019	Present		17th

List of deputy leaders of the opposition in Lok Sabha

Portrait	Name	Constituency	Tenure		Lok Sabha	Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha	Party
	Sushma Swaraj	Vidisha	3 June 2009	21 December 2009	15th	L. K. Advani	Bharatiya Janata Party
	Gopinath Munde	Beed	22 December 2009	20 May 2014		Sushma Swaraj

See also

• Vice-President of India
  (Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha)
• Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha
• Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha
• Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha
• Leader of the House in Lok Sabha
• Secretary General of the Lok Sabha

References

Further reading

• Manisha, M. (2010–2011), Parliamentary Efficacy and the Role of the Opposition: A Comparative Study of the 2nd and 14th Lok Sabha (PDF), Rajya Sabha Fellowship for Parliamentary Studies, rajyasabha.nic.in