In the Republic of India, the various central and state legislatures are presided by either a Speaker or a Chairman. The Speaker is elected in the very first meeting of the Punjab Legislative Assembly after the General elections for a term of 5 years from amongst the members of the Vidhan Sabha. The Speaker holds office until either he ceases to be a member of the Vidhan Sabha or he himself resigns. The Speaker can be removed from office by a resolution passed in the Vidhan Sabha by an effective majority of its members. In the absence of a Speaker, the meeting of Punjab Legislative Assembly is presided over by the Deputy Speaker. The incumbent Speaker is Kultar Singh Sandhwan and the deputy speaker is Jai Krishan Singh of Aam Admi Party.
Powers and functions of the Speaker Following are the functions and position of Speakers.Functions and Position of Speaker
The Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha conducts the business in house, and decides whether a bill is a money bill or not. They maintain discipline and decorum in the house and can punish a member for their unruly behaviour by suspending them. They also permit the moving of various kinds of motions and resolutions such as a motion of no confidence, motion of adjournment, motion of censure and calling attention notice as per the rules. The speaker decides on the agenda to be taken up for discussion during the meeting. The date of election of the speaker is fixed by the Governor of Punjab. Further, all comments and speeches made by members of the House are addressed to the speaker. The speaker is answerable to the house. Both the speaker and deputy speaker may be removed by a resolution passed by the majority of the members. Speaker also gives recognition to the main opposite party as an Official Opposition and to the leader of that party in assembly as the Leader of Opposition.
Speaker S. No.NameConstituencyTenureFormer speaker of punjab vidhan sabha DurationPartyAssembly Pre-Independence (1937-1947)1Shahab-ud-Din VirkSialkot6 April 193716 March 1945 Unionist Party1st2Satya Prakash SinghaWest Central Punjab21 March 19464 July 19472ndAfter Independence (1947–present) 1Kapur SinghLudhiana East 1 November 1947 20 June 1951Indian National Congress - 2Satya PalAmritsar City North 5 May 1952 18 April 19541st 3Gurdial Singh DhillonTarn Taran 18 May 1954 25 April 1957Tarn Taran 25 April 1957 13 March 1962 2nd 4Prabodh ChandraGurdaspur 14 March 1962 18 March 19643rd 5Harbans Lal GuptaBathinda 25 March 1964 19 March 1967 6Joginder Singh Mann Sirhind 21 March 1967 13 March 1969 Akali Dal - Tara Singh 4th 7Darbara SinghNakodar 14 March 1969 13 June 1971 Independent5th Nakodar22 March 19723 September 1973 Indian National Congress 6th 8Kewal KrishanMukerian 25 September 1973 30 June 1977 9Ravi Inder SinghMorinda 1 July 1977 27 June 1980 Shiromani Akali Dal 7th 10 Brij Bhushan MehraAmritsar North 1 July 1980 13 October 1985 Indian National Congress (Indira) 8th (9)Ravi Inder SinghMorinda 15 October 1985 27 May 1986 Shiromani Akali Dal9th 11Surjit Singh MinhasAdampur 2 June 1986 15 March 1992 12Harcharan Singh AjnalaAjnala 17 March 1992 9 June 1993 Indian National Congress (Indira)10th 13Harnam Das JoharLudhiana West 21 July 1993 23 November 1996 14Dilbagh Singh DalekeTarn Taran 23 December 1996 2 March 1997 15Charanjit Singh AtwalKum Kalan 4 March 1997 20 March 2002 Shiromani Akali Dal 11th (8)Kewal KrishanMukerian 21 March 2002 15 March 2007 Indian National Congress 12th 16Nirmal Singh KahlonFatehgarh Churian 16 March 2007 19 March 2012 Shiromani Akali Dal 13th (15)Charanjit Singh AtwalPayal 20 March 2012 27 March 2017 14th 17Rana KP SinghAnandpur Sahib 27 March 2017 11 March 2022 Indian National Congress 15th18Kultar Singh SandhwanKotkapura 21 March 2022 Incumbent Aam Aadmi Party 16th
Deputy Speaker The Deputy Speaker is the vice-presiding officer of the Vidhan Sabha. Acts as the presiding officer in case of leave or absence caused by death or illness of the Speaker.
List of Deputy Speakers Color keys for the Party of Deputy Speaker
S. No.NameConstituencyTenurepage xiii of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Compendium. Punjab Legislative Assembly. Retrieved on 25 September 2018.DurationPartyPre-Independence (1937-1947)1.Dasaundha Singh Jagraon6 April 19377 April 1941Unionist Party2.Gurbachan Singh Jullundur West22 April 194116 March 19453.Kapur SinghLudhiana East26 March 19464 July 1947After Independence (1947–1966)1.Thakur Panchan ChandKangra North3 November 194720 March 1951 Indian National Congress 2.Shanno Devi Amritsar City West26 March 195120 June 1951 3.Gurdial Singh DhillonJhabal10 May 195217 May 1954 4.Sarup SinghNarnaund19 May 195431 March 1957(4)Hansi25 April 195728 February 19625.Shanno Devi Jagadhri19 March 196231 October 1966 Post- Reorganisation (1966 - Present)6.Jagjit Singh ChohanTanda27 March 196727 November 1967 Akali Dal - Sant Fateh Singh 7.Baldev Singh8 December 196723 August 1968 8.Bikramajit Singh BajwaBatala20 March 196924 April 1970 Bharatiya Jana Sangh(8)Batala28 July 197013 October 1971 9.Kewal KrishanMukerian28 March 197225 September 1973 Indian National Congress 10.Nasib Singh GillZira28 September 197330 April 1977 11.Panna Lal NayyarBatala8 July 197717 February 1980 Janata Party 12.Guizar SinghNathana8 July 198026 June 1985 Indian National Congress (Indira) 13.Nirmal Singh Kahlon Fatehgarh Churian5 November 19856 May 1986 Shiromani Akali Dal 14.Jaswant Singh SidhuMansa2 June 19865 March 1988 15.Romesh Chander DograDasuya7 April 19927 January 1996 Indian National Congress (Indira) 16.Naresh ThakurHoshiarpur28 February 199611 February 1997 17.Swarna Ram Phagwara18 June 199726 July 1997 Bharatiya Janata Party 18.Baldev Raj Chawla Amritsar North23 December 199731 December 1999 19.Satpal GosainLudhiana East5 September 200024 February 2002 20.Darbari Lal Amritsar Central26 June 200210 March 2003 Indian National Congress 21.Bir Devinder Singh Kharar27 March 20039 July 2004(20)Darbari Lal Amritsar Central12 July 200427 February 2007(19)Satpal GosainLudhiana East16 March 200714 April 2011 Bharatiya Janata Party22.Chuni Lal BhagatJalandhar South13 June 20116 March 201223.Dinesh SinghSujanpur20 March 201211 March 201724.Ajaib Singh BhattiMalout16 June 201711 March 2022 Indian National Congress 25.Jai Krishan SinghGarhshankar30 June 2022Incumbent Aam Aadmi Party
Pro tem Speaker After a general election and the formation of a new government, a list of senior Members in Vidhan Sabha prepared by the Legislative Section is submitted to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, who selects a pro tem speaker who holds the office of Speaker until a full time speaker is elected. However,, in Punjab mostly the pro tem speaker become the full time Speaker. The appointment has to be approved by the Governor.
The first meeting after the election when the speaker and the deputy speaker are selected by members of the Vidhan Sabha is held under the pro tem Speaker. In the absence of the speaker, the deputy speaker acts as speaker. In the absence of both, a committee of six members selected by the speaker will act as speaker according to their seniority.
The Speaker of the Assembly must:
Be a citizen of India; Not be less than 25 years of age; and Not hold any office of profit under the Government of Punjab, India.
In Punjab Legislative Assembly mostly Pro-tem speaker is elected as Speaker.
List of Pro tem Speakers Sr. no.Year Pro-tem SpeakerPro tem speakerElected Speaker Before Independence 11937Raja Narendra NathShahab-ud-Di21946Satya Prakash SinghaAfter Independence 1 1952 Satyapal2 1957 Gurdial Singh Dhillon3 1962 Prabodh Chandra4 1967 Lal Chand Sabharwal Joginder Singh Mann5 1969 Darbara Singh1972 6 1977 Ravi Inder Singh7 1980 Gurdarshan Singh Brij Bhushan Mehra(6) 1985 Ravi Inder Singh8 1992 Harcharn Singh Ajnala9 1997 Charnjit Singh Atwal10 2002 Kewal Krishan11 2007 Nirmal Singh Kahlon(9) 2012 Charnjit Singh Atwal12 2017 Rana Kanwar Pal Singh132022Inderbir Singh NijjarKultar Singh Sandhwan
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