‘I believe I am senior most’: Cong's RV Deshpande on who pro-tem Speaker will be

Karnataka is set to witness a trust vote on Saturday evening after a direction by the Supreme Court. Governor Vajubhai Vala will now have to appoint a pro-tem Speaker – who will order and oversee the trust vote in the Assembly

A pro-tem Speaker is appointed by the Governor of the state for a limited period of time, or until the Legislative Assembly elects its Speaker.

The pro-tem Speaker will also administer the oath to MLA-elects.

Procedurally, the Governor elects the senior most member as the pro-tem Speaker.

Congress leader RV Deshpande is the senior most member in the House and has won elections eight out of the nine times that he has contested the elections since 1983. Meanwhile, the second most senior member in the House is BJP’s Umesh Vishwanath Katti – who has won seven out of eight elections since 1985.

"I assume I am the senior most in the Assembly and will be appointed the pro-tem Speaker. There is no question of a secret ballot anyway. It will either be a voice vote or a division of votes," RV Deshpande said.

He exuded confidence that all Congress MLAs will vote against BS Yeddyurappa's trust motion.

Election of Speaker

The pro-tem Speaker will also oversee the election of Speaker of the Assembly, who is responsible for ordering a floor test, and even casts the deciding vote in the event of a tie. Under normal circumstances, the Speaker is first elected before the beginning of an Assembly session. However, given that the election of the Speaker is in a way a trust vote of the Yeddyurappa government, the pro-tem Speaker can end up ordering the floor test – as was the case in Goa in March 2017.