New Delhi: The appointment of four-term BJP MLA K.G. Bopaiah as pro tem speaker by Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala, barely 24 hours before the crucial floor test in the state assembly, has triggered another round of debate around the governor’s role in the state as he overlooked the candidature of the seniormost MLA, R.V. Deshpande of the Congress, who won his eighth election this time.The issue also snowballed into a major controversy as Bopaiah, who has served as speaker earlier, was castigated by the Supreme Court for the manner in which he had disqualified 11 MLAs who had rebelled against the then B.S. Yeddyurappa government in 2010.Incidentally, Bopaiah was also the pro tem speaker in 2008 when the Yeddyurappa-led BJP government had fallen three short of majority mark in the 224 member house and had taken the support of five independents to sail through.Singhvi decries appointment, says convention of picking seniormost MLA not followedAs soon as the announcement of Bopaiah’s name was made, senior Congress leader and advocate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who had represented the party before a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court against the governor’s order to call Yeddyurappa to form the government, decried the governor’s choice of pro tem speaker as well.Singhvi had earlier challenged Vala’s decision to invite Yeddyurappa to form the government despite the BJP winning just 104 of the 222 contested seats before the Supreme Court. He had said that in doing so, the governor had overlooked the claim of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) combine which had staked claim to form the government with a total strength of 117 MLAs. Also, by giving 15 days to the BJP to win the vote of confidence, he had charged that attempts were being made to promote horse-trading.With the governor appointing Bopaiah 24 hours before the 4 pm deadline for Yeddyurappa, set by the apex court, for convening the House for the trust vote on May 19, Singhvi reiterated that as a convention, the senior most MLA, who may be “man, woman or from whichever party” should be made the pro tem speaker. In this case, he said, “everyone knows that Deshpande is the seniormost MLA and yet Bopaiah has been made the pro tem speaker”.‘Senior is determined by terms, not age’Another senior Congress leader and advocate, Salman Khurshid, said traditionally the seniormost MLA or MP is made the pro tem speaker and the criteria is the number of terms served and not the age.The law on pro tem speaker is laid down under Article 180(1) of the constitution. It states that “while the office of Speaker is vacant, the duties of the office shall be performed by the Deputy Speaker or, if the office of Deputy Speaker is also vacant, by such member of the Assembly as the Governor may appoint for the purpose”.Meanwhile, PRS Legislative too tweeted that “as per convention, the seniormost member of the House is chosen as a pro tem speaker”. It pointed out that such pro tem speaker’s “main role is that of administering the oath of office and secrecy to the newly-elected MLAs”.National spokesperson of Samajwadi Party Ghanshyam Tiwari tweeted how the credentials of K.G. Bopaiah make him unsuitable for the job.#FloorTest Governor makes KG Bopaiah Pro Tem Speaker – A man who was criticised by Supreme Court for his role as Speaker last time. Governor of Karnataka must resign. He fails the simple test of constitutional integrity. #PiratesOfDemocracy don’t have majority and morality.— Ghanshyam Tiwari (@ghanshyamtiwari) May 18, 2018Bopaiah had saved Yeddyurappa government in 2010Tiwari was essentially referring to how when in October 2011, 11 MLAs of the ruling BJP along with some independent MLAs had revolted against Yeddyurappa and submitted a letter to the governor withdrawing their support to the BJP government, Bopaiah, who was then speaker, had disqualified them and saved the government.Bopaiah’s decision was upheld by the high court, where Justice V.G. Sabhahit, to whom the matter was referred after a split verdict by a division bench, headed by then Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice N. Kumar, had noted that “the speaker’s order is in consonance with provisions of Para 2(1)(a) of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution”.Justice Sabhahit had observed that it was clear that though the petitioners had incurred disqualification on October 6, the decision is ex post facto and the speaker is entitled to take into account the material produced before him, which is not disputed by the legislators against whom action was sought to be taken.SC had termed his actions as speaker as ‘drastic’, ‘partisan’However, this decision of the high court was overturned by the Supreme Court, which had also castigated Bopaiah saying his actions were ‘drastic’ and ‘partisan’ and taken in ‘great hurry’ with ‘extraneous considerations.’“The Speaker’s action did not meet the twin tests of natural justice and fair play. He was ignoring the constitutional norms. Extraneous considerations are writ large on the face of the order of the speaker,” the apex court recorded.Stating that “unless it was to ensure that the trust vote did not go against the CM, there was no conceivable reason for the Speaker to have taken up the disqualification application in such a great hurry,” the Supreme Court had also said that “the procedure adopted by the Speaker seems to indicate that he was trying to meet the time schedule set by the governor for the trial of strength in the assembly and to ensure that the appellants and the other independent MLAs stood disqualified prior to the date on which the floor was to be held”.Opposition fears Bopaiah as he works for ‘extraneous considerations’It is in this light that the appointment of Bopaiah has caused concern to the Congress and other political parties. He is seen as a man who works for “extraneous considerations”, as the apex court pointed out.However, the BJP does not believe so or at least pretends not to. Its senior leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar defended the decision saying that Bopaiah was appointed as pro tem speaker in 2008 as well and thus Congress was raising a “hoax objection”.Shri KG Bopaiah was appointed as Pro Tem speaker even in 2008 by the then Governor. That time Bopaiah was 10 years younger than what he is today. The Congress is thus raising hoax objection. The appointment of Bopaiah Ji is as per rules and regulations. @BJP4India @BJP4Karnataka— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) May 18, 2018A closer look at the appointments of pro tem speakers in assembly elections held since 2017 reveals that the opposition to Bopaiah’s appointment has not got as much to do with his seniority as his past.In last 10 assembly elections before Karnataka, pro tem speaker has not always been the seniormost MLAIn the 10 other Assembly elections since early 2017 while not on all occasions the senior most MLA has been appointed pro tem speaker to administer oath of office to other MLAs and to have the trust vote taken, such appointments have gone unopposed in states where the mandate was clear.However, in states like Manipur, Meghalaya and Goa, the issue has been contested. Likewise, the BJP has also gone and appointed senior most MLAs in states like Uttarakhand while it has gone for junior MLAs for the post in most other states.In Punjab, 59-year-old Rana K.P. Singh of the Congress was sworn in pro tem speaker in March 2017 though he was not the most senior MLA. But as the Congress had got a two-third majority, there was no protest.In Uttar Pradesh, 49-year-old Fateh Bahadur Singh, who again was not the most senior MLA, was made pro tem Speaker but again there was no protest because here BJP had swept the polls.Some senior MLAs have also been appointed pro tem speakerBut some senior MLAs have also been appointed pro tem speaker. In Uttarakhand, the BJP had itself appointed a veteran eight-time MLA Harbans Kapoor to the post.In Himachal Pradesh too, the BJP had appointed a senior leader and former minister Romesh Dhawala the pro tem speaker. He was a four-time MLA from Jwalamukhi.Likewise in Tripura, veteran BJP MLA Ratan Chakraborty was sworn in as pro tem speaker. He was earlier with the Congress.In Meghalaya, the oldest member of the House, 68-year-old Timothy Shira, was appointed the pro-tem speaker and finally in Nagaland, it was two-time BJP legislator Mmhunlumo Kikon, who was sworn in as the pro tem speaker following the polls earlier this year.Juniors, trusted lieutenants were chosen in states which threw up a hung verdictOn the other hand, in Manipur, BJP legislator V. Hangkhalian, who again was not the seniormost MLA, was sworn in as pro tem speaker. Here, the BJP with just 21 seats managed to form the government along with Naga People’s Front and National People’s Party. The Congress won 27 seats and emerged as the single largest party but could not cobble the numbers here.In Goa too, it was a similar story with the BJP forming the government along with other parties despite Congress emerging as the single largest party. Sidharth Kuncalienker was sworn in as the pro tem speaker. He was a close confidante who had become MLA in the by-election from the seat vacated by Manohar Parrikar when he had gone to Delhi to become a Union minister in 2014. When Parrikar was to return to Goa following BJP’s formation of the government there in 2017, Kuncalienker vacated his seat for him.Though the Gujarat elections had not thrown up a hung verdict, the appointment of BJP’s Nimaben Acharya as the pro tem speaker here did not go unnoticed. Having been MLA just once, she was not the seniormost, but in February this year she along with two other persons was sentenced by a local court to one-year in jail in a 2009 Lok Sabha election case pertaining to violation of the code of conduct.