Congress denied Leader of Opposition post in Gujarat Assembly

In the December 2022 elections of the Gujarat Assembly, the BJP had registered a historic victory by winning a record 156 of the 182 seats. The Congress party had won 17 seats

A letter in this regard was issued to the leader of the Congress Legislative Party and Anklav MLA Amit Chavda. (File Photo)

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

Gujarat Assembly secretariat Wednesday made it clear that the Congress party will not get the position of the Leader of Opposition in the House as it does not have the requisite 10 per cent of the total seats in the House.

In the December 2022 elections of the Gujarat Assembly, the BJP had registered a historic victory by winning a record 156 of the 182 seats. The Congress party had won 17 seats.

A letter in this regard was issued by D M Patel, Secretary, Gujarat Assembly, to the leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) and Anklav MLA Amit Chavda.

Speaking with The Indian Express, Chavda confirmed the letter was issued late Wednesday evening. Chavda said, “The letter from the Assembly Secretary has stated that because we do not have 10 per cent seats, we are not eligible to get the post (of LOP).”

Chavda said the Congress party had written a letter to Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary on January 18 informing him about his appointment as the CLP leader with a request to appoint him as the LOP. He added they also sent two reminders in this regard to the office of the speaker.

Chavda said there is a rule and a tradition of giving the post of LOP to the second-largest party in the Gujarat Assembly. “The Congress party had in past given the post to the second largest party having 14 seats in the House…We will examine this communication in a legal way (and then decide accordingly),” he added.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram