Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has said there have been no Leaders of Opposition when a party has not had the required numbers.
In her ruling, the Speaker said there are two conditions required to be fulfilled for appointment as the Leader of Opposition -- that one has to be a recognised party, and it should have 55 members in the House. But the Congress does not fulfil the second condition.
Last month, the Congress had handed a petition to the Speaker -- signed by over 60 parliamentarians, including allies like Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party - asking for the post. Though the party has won only 44 seats this year's general elections, it contends that it has more than 55 MPs when the numbers of its pre-election allies are added.
The Congress' Leader in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said he would consult his party's senior leadership and the legal department regarding the Speaker's decision. But he has ruled out contesting the decision in the Supreme Court.
The Leader of the Opposition is a Cabinet-rank post and is part of important committees headed by the Prime Minister, which are in charge of selecting key appointees like the national ombudsman, the Lokpal, and the Chief Vigilance Commissioner.
But Ms Mahajan had pointed out that the first time the Lok Sabha had a Leader of Opposition was in 1969. "There was none in 1980 or in 1984," she had said.
The Congress' chance of getting the post had become bleaker with the Attorney General reportedly advising the Speaker that neither parliamentary tradition nor the law backs its demand.
Sources said Mr Rohatgi had underscored that the First Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Ganesh Vasudev Mavlankar, had said the Leader of the Opposition must belong to a party whose MPs match the quorum of the House -- 55 law-makers. The policy has been followed for nearly 60 years, and meant that there was no Leader of Opposition at different times.
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