Leader of the Opposition (India)

Leader of the Opposition of India
Emblem of India
Incumbent Mallikarjun Kharge (in Lok Sabha) Arun Jaitley(in Rajya Sabha)
Website	www.parliamentofindia.nic.in

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. The post of Leader of the Opposition can only be awarded to the leader of a 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.

The Leader of the Opposition enjoys the rank of a Cabinet Minister and receives the same perks, salaries and allowances. The Leader of the Opposition also serves on several important committees, including the selection panels for the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Central Bureau of Investigation Director, and members of the Lokpal. In cases where there is no officially recognized Leader of the Opposition, the leader of the single largest party in opposition will function as leader of the bloc. However, an unofficial Leader of the Opposition does not receive the perks, salaries and allowances that an officially recognized one would.

Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha had no recognised Leader of the Opposition until 1969. The post was also vacant between 1980 and 1989.

Name	Party	Term	Lok Sabha
Ram Subhag Singh	Indian National Congress (O)	17 December 1969 – 27 December 1970	Fourth
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		10–28 July 1979
Jagjivan Ram	Janata Party	29 July – 22 August 1979
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	Tenth
Atal Bihari Vajpayee		26 July 1993 – 10 May 1996
P. V. Narasimha Rao	Indian National Congress	16–31 May 1996	Eleventh
Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Bharatiya Janata Party	1 June 1996 – 4 December 1997
Sharad Pawar	Indian National Congress	19 March 1998 – 26 April 1999	Twelfth
Sonia Gandhi		13 October 1999 – 6 February 2004	Thirteenth
L. K. Advani	Bharatiya Janata Party	22 May 2004 – 18 May 2009	Fourteenth
Sushma Swaraj		21 December 2009 - 19 May 2014	Fifteenth
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.

	Name	Party	Term
1	Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra	Indian National Congress (O)	December 1969 – March 1971
2	M. S. Gurupadaswamy		March 1971 – April 1972
3	Kamalapati Tripathi	Indian National Congress	30 March 1977 – 15 February 1978
4	Bhola Paswan Shastri	Indian National Congress (O)	24 February 1978 – 23 March 1978
5	Kamalapati Tripathi	Indian National Congress	23 March 1978 – 8 January 1980
6	L. K. Advani	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	21 January 1980 – 7 April 1980
7	P. Shiv Shankar	Indian National Congress	18 December 1989 – 2 January 1991
8	M. S. Gurupadaswamy	Other	28 June – 21 July 1991
9	S. Jaipal Reddy	Congress Rebel	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		3 June 2009 – present