The leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: ) is an elected Member of Lok Sabha who leads the

official opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

in the Lower House of the Parliament of India. The

leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

is the parliamentary chairperson of the largest political party in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

that is not in

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

(provided that said political party has at least 10% of the seats in the Lok Sabha).

Rahul Gandhi Rahul Rajiv Gandhi (; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician. A member of the Indian National Congress (INC), he is currently serving as the 12th leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and as the member of the Lok Sabha for Rae Bareli Lok ...

is currently serving as leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha. The office holder ranks 7th in the Order of Precedence of India.

History

In the

until 1969, there was a de facto opposition leader with no formal recognition, status or privilege. Later, the leader of the opposition was given official recognition, and their salary and allowances were extended by the Act of 1977. Since then, the leader in the Lok Sabha should satisfy three conditions, namely, # They should be a member of the House # of the party in opposition to the Government having the greatest numerical strength and # be recognized by the

Speaker of the Lok Sabha The Speaker of the Lok Sabha ( IAST: ) is the presiding officer and the highest authority of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The speaker is elected generally in the first meeting of the Lok Sabha following a general ...

In December 1969, the Congress Party (O) was recognized as the main opposition party in the parliament while its leader, Ram Subhag Singh played the role of the opposition leader.

Roles and responsibilities

A Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha has the following responsibilities. * Status equivalent to Cabinet minister rank * Member of selection committees **

Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation The director of the Central Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), an Indian federal crime investigating agency, who is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The CBI is the agency within the Minist ...

** Chief Election Commissioner ** Election Commissioners ** Enforcement Director ** National Human Rights Commissioner ** Lokpal Chairperson ** Audit and Expenditure committee of Government expenditure However, in the selection panels for most of these appointments, except the CBI, where the Chief Justice of India is a member of this three-member committee that includes the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India, the government holds a numerical advantage, i.e votes are in the government's favour. However, the Leader of the Opposition will still have a say.

Privileges and salary

The leader of opposition is a statutory post and officially recognized in “The salary and allowance of Leader of opposition act, 1977”.

List of leaders of the opposition in Lok Sabha

The

did not officially recognize a leader of the opposition until 1969. The position was vacant between 1970 and 1977, between 1980 and 1989 and between 2014 and 2024. Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party has been appointed leader of the opposition in India's parliament, filling a post that had been empty for a decade.

Statistics

List of leaders of the opposition by length of term

Deputy leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha

The deputy leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha (

: ) is an elected

Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha ( abbreviated: MP) is the representative of a legislative constituency in the Lok Sabha; the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of parliament of Lok Sabha are chosen by direct elections ...

who serves the deputy to opposition leader in the Lower House of the Parliament of India.