Election Results 2024: Will Maharashtra get Leader of Opposition with MVA winning 50 seats?

The Maha Aghadi Vikas (MVA) lost the Maharashtra Assembly Elections to the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance by a huge margin. The Mahayuti won 235 seats of the total 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra. This left 50 seats with the MVA (INDIA bloc) and two seats for Independent candidates. The AIMIM won one seat. 

As the Maharashtra Election Results were declared on Saturday, speculations were rife whether the MVA would get the Leader of Opposition status in the Maharashtra Assembly. The MVA's share in the Maharashtra Assembly is as follows:

Congress: 16

Shiv Sena (UBT): 20 seats

NCP-SP: 10

Samajwadi Party (SP): 2

Communist Party of India (Marxist) - CPI(M): 1

Peasants And Workers Party of India - PWPI: 1

Will MVA get Leader of Opposition status?

The document titled 'Leaders of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislature Salaries and Allowances Act, 1978' states that the Leader of the Opposition is elected from the party in the Opposition with the "greatest numerical strength" and is recognised as such by the Speaker of the Assembly.

“'Leader of the Opposition' in relation to either House of the State Legislature, means that member of the State Legislature Assembly or the State Legislature Council as the case may be who is for the time being the Leader in that House of the party in opposition to the State Government having the greatest numerical strength and recognised as such by the Speaker of the Assembly or the Chairman of the Council as the case may be,” the document stated.

The document added that in case there are two or more parties in Opposition to the State Government in the Assembly or in the Council having the same numerical strength, the Speaker of the Assembly or the Chairman of the Council will recognise any one of the Leaders of such parties as the Leader of the Opposition.

Is there 10% rule for choosing LoP?

Based on "tradition", it is claimed that a political party needs at 10 percent seats in the House for the Leader of the Opposition status. This "rule" is mostly followed in the Lok Sabha, or the lower house of Parliament.

The Institute of Secretariat Training and Management mentioned in one of its booklet that the recognition of the Leader of Opposition is given by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha – “provided the largest party in opposition have minimum 55 MP in the House [Lok Sabha]”.

However, no such rule is mentioned in the Constitution, and there has been no mention of this "rule" applying to state assemblies.

Short history of 10% rule:

The incident dates back to August 2014 when the then Lok Sabha Speaker the Congress's demand for the post of leader of the opposition (LoP) in the Lower House of Parliament because the party doesn’t have enough representatives in the Lok Sabha.

Mahajan had then told news agency PTI, “I have gone by rules and tradition." She had cited a rule that said a party has to have a minimum of 55 seats (which is 10% of 543 seats) in the Lok Sabha for its leader to be given this status.

Another reason she had cited was past precedent: in 1980 and 1984, no party was given LoP status in the Lok Sabha.

However, months later, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said in response to a Right to Information (RTI) query that there is no minimum percentage of seats required for appointment of a LoP.

"There is no minimum percentage prescribed for the selection of the Leader of Opposition," Under Secretary of the Lok Sabha Secretariat K Sona said in reply to a query by Mumbai-based RTI activist Anil Galgali.