Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha

Leader of the Opposition of Lok Sabha
Leader of the Opposition of Lok Sabha
Lok Sabhā ke Vipakṣa ke Netā
	Emblem of India
	Incumbent; Rahul Gandhi; since 9 June 2024
Style	The Honourable
Type	Leader of the opposition
Status	Head of the opposition alliance or main opposition party
Residence	10, Janpath, New Delhi
Nominator	Members of the Official Opposition in the Lok Sabha
Appointer	Speaker of the Lok Sabha
Term length	5 years
Inaugural holder	Ram Subhag Singh (1969–1970)
Formation	1950
Deputy	Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Salary	₹330,000 (US$4,000); (excl. allowances) per month
Website	loksabha.nic.in

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).^[1] Rahul Gandhi is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.^[2]

The office holder ranks 7th in the Order of Precedence of India.^[3]

History

In the Lok Sabha until 1969, there was a 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 were extended by the Act of 1977. Since then, the leader in the Lok Sabha should satisfy three conditions, namely,

he should be a member of the House
of the party in opposition to the Government having the greatest numerical strength and
be recognized by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha

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

Roles and responsibilities

Status equivalent to Cabinet minister rank
Member of selection committees
- Central bureau of investigation
- Chief Election commissioner
- Election commissioners
- Enforcement director
- National Human Rights Commissioner
- Lokpal Chief
- Audit and Expenditure committee of Government expenditure

Privileges and salary

The leader of opposition is a statutory post and officially recognized in “The salary and allowance of Leader of opposition act, 1977”.^[1]

List of leaders of the opposition in Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha did not officially recognize a Leader of the Opposition until 1969. The position was vacant between 1970 and 1977, between 1980 and 1989 and between 2014 and 2024.^[4] Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party has been appointed leader of the opposition in India's parliament, filling a post that had been empty for a decade.^[5]

Vacant

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	–	28 December 1970	30 June 1977	6 years, 185 days	5th	Indira Gandhi	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	–	23 August 1979	31 December 1984	10 years, 117 days	7th	Indira Gandhi	No official opposition^[6]
–	–	Vacant	–	1 January 1985	17 December 1989	10 years, 117 days	8th	Rajiv Gandhi	No official opposition^[6]
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	9th	Chandra Shekhar	Bharatiya Janata Party
6		L. K. Advani	Gandhinagar	14 March 1991	20 July 1993	2 years, 214 days	10th	P. V. Narasimha Rao
7		Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Lucknow	21 July 1993	15 May 1996	2 years, 289 days	10th	P. V. Narasimha Rao
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	11th	Deve Gowda IK Gujral	Bharatiya Janata Party
9		Sharad Pawar	Baramati	5 December 1997	30 October 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	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Indian National Congress
(6)		L. K. Advani	Gandhinagar	21 May 2004	20 December 2009	5 years, 213 days	14th	Manmohan Singh	Bharatiya Janata Party
11		Sushma Swaraj	Vidisha	21 December 2009	19 May 2014	4 years, 149 days	15th	Manmohan Singh	Bharatiya Janata Party
–	–	Vacant	–	20 May 2014	29 May 2019	10 years, 19 days	16th	Narendra Modi	No official opposition^[6]^[7]
–	–	Vacant	–	30 May 2019	8 June 2024	10 years, 19 days	17th		No official opposition^[6]^[7]
12		Rahul Gandhi	Raebareli	9 June 2024	Incumbent	158 days	18th		Indian National Congress^[8]

Statistics

List of leaders of the opposition by length of term

No.	Name	Party		Length of term
No.	Name	Party		Longest continuous term	Total years of opposition-ship
1	Lal Krishna Advani	BJP		5 years, 213 days	8 years, 174 days
2	Sushma Swaraj	BJP		4 years, 148 days	4 years, 148 days
3	Sonia Gandhi	INC		4 years, 116 days	4 years, 116 days
4	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	BJP		2 years, 289 days	3 years, 110 days
5	C. M. Stephen	INC		1 year, 89 days	1 year, 89 days
6	Sharad Chandra Pawar	INC		1 year, 38 days	1 year, 38 days
7	Yashwantrao Chavan	INC		1 year, 20 days	1 year, 38 days
8	Ram Subhag Singh	INC(O)		1 year, 10 days	1 year, 10 days
9	Rajiv Gandhi	INC		1 year, 6 days	1 year, 6 days
10	Rahul Gandhi	INC		158 days	158 days
11	Jagjivan Ram	JP		25 days	25 days
12	P. V. Narasimha Rao	INC		16 days	15 days
–	Vacant	–	–	14 years 320 days	44 years 180 days

Fraction of time of holding LoP by party (as of August 2024)

Bharatiya Janata Party (16 years 67 days) (21.01%)

Indian National Congress (9 years, 163 days) (11.70%)

Indian National Congress (Organisation) (1 year 10 days) (1.33%)

Janata Party (25 days) (0.09%)

Vacant (65.87%)

Deputy leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha (IAST: Lok Sabhā ke Vipakṣa ke Upar Netā) is an elected Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha who serves the deputy to opposition leader in the Lower House of the Parliament of India.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected constituency	Term of office^[9]			Lok Sabha (Election)	Political party	Leader of the Opposition
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected constituency	Assumed office	Left office	Time in office	Lok Sabha (Election)	Political party	Leader of the Opposition
1		Sushma Swaraj	Vidisha	3 June 2009	21 December 2009	201 days	15th (2009)	Bharatiya Janata Party	Lal Krishna Advani
2		Gopinath Munde	Beed	22 December 2009	18 May 2014	4 years, 147 days	15th (2009)	Bharatiya Janata Party	Sushma Swaraj
3		Gaurav Gogoi	Jorhat	14 July 2024	Incumbent	123 days	18th (2024)	Indian National Congress	Rahul Gandhi

References

^ ^a ^b "Who is Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha? A look at powers and possible candidates this time". Livemint. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
^ "Rahul Gandhi as LoP after 10 years: 'Shadow PM' powers in Lok Sabha explained". India Today. 28 June 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
^ "What powers will Rahul Gandhi have in Lok Sabha as Leader of Opposition?". Hindustani Times. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
^ "Lok Sabha". Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
^ "Rahul Gandhi's big test as India's opposition leader". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
^ ^a ^b "No leader of oppn? There wasn't any in Nehru, Indira, Rajiv days". Rediff. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
^ "Narendra Modi government will not have Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha again". India Today.
^ "Speaker has recognised Congress MP Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha with effect from 9th June 2024".
^ The ordinal number of the term being served by the person specified in the row in the corresponding period

v t e Lok Sabha
Presiding Officers and Parliamentary Functionaries	Speaker Deputy Speaker Pro tem Speaker Panel of Speakers Leader of the House Leader of the Opposition Chairmen of Parliamentary Committees Whips Secretariat Secretary General Sansad TV
Members	Constituencies Former Constituencies Nominated Members Current Lok Sabha Current Members
Members by the Lok Sabhas	1st LS Members 2nd LS Members 3rd LS Members 4th LS Members 5th LS Members 6th LS Members 7th LS Members 8th LS Members 9th LS Members 10th LS Members 11th LS Members 12th LS Members 13th LS Members 14th LS Members 15th LS Members 16th LS Members 17th LS Members 18th LS Members
Elections	1951–52 1957 1962 1967 1971 1977 1980 1984 1989 1991 1996 1998 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024