6 yrs on, assembly dy speaker seat vacant

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh's assembly has lacked a deputy speaker for six years, upending a longstanding bipartisan tradition first broken by Congress and continued under the BJP.The chamber's custom, dating to the 1990s, reserved the speaker's post for the ruling party and the deputy speaker's role for the opposition. After the Nov 2018 elections, Congress secured both positions: It claimed the speaker's chair amid a majority, then elected its MLA Heena Likhiram Kavre as deputy speaker in Jan 2019 via voice vote — despite the BJP's push for its candidate, Jagdish Dewra, now the state's deputy chief minister. That move shattered the 29-year practice of offering the deputy post to the opposition, even as the BJP — then in the minority with 109 seats — sought an election to demonstrate its clout. Congress held power until March 2020, when Jyotiraditya Scindia defected to the BJP with supporters, toppling the govt. BJP has ruled since, most recently winning 163 of 230 seats in Nov 2023, but the deputy speaker post has stayed vacant — possibly the longest such gap in state history, according to secretariat officials.Issue has resurfaced with the budget session set to begin Feb 16. The deputy speaker does more than preside in the speaker's absence: The role includes chairing key committees, coordinating the media gallery advisory panel with legislators, and leading revisions to lawmakers' pay and allowances — duties the speaker can delegate to senior MLAs if needed.Govt sources suggest BJP may preserve the status quo, opting against filling the post or yielding it to the opposition.