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Mahesh

24/06/24 10:58 AM IST

Parliamentary Oath

In News
  • The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will start recently. 
  • Before the House can begin its legislative functioning, the newly elected members will have to take the oath of Members of Parliament (MP), which is provided in the Constitution.
Term Of MP
  • The five-year term of a Lok Sabha MP begins when the Election Commission of India (ECI) declares the results according to Section 73 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
  • From that day onward, MPs are eligible for certain rights as elected representatives.
  • For example, they start receiving their salary and allowances from the date of ECI notification — after the 2024 general elections, the ECI declared results on June 6
  • The start of their term also means that if MPs change their party allegiance, their political party can ask the Speaker to disqualify them from Parliament under the anti-defection law.
Significance
  • Winning the election and starting the term does not automatically allow an MP to participate in House proceedings.
  • To debate and vote in Lok Sabha, an MP has to take her seat in the House by making and subscribing to an oath or affirmation prescribed in the Constitution (Article 99).
  • The Constitution also specifies a financial penalty (the only one in the document) of Rs 500 if a person participates or votes in House proceedings without taking an oath (Article 104).
Parliamentary Oath
  • The Constitution’s third schedule contains the text of the parliamentary oath.
  • It reads, “I, A.B., having been elected (or nominated) a member of the Council of States (or the House of the People) do swear in the name of God / solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter.”
Process of Oath
  • Before being called upon to take the oath or affirmation, MPs must submit their election certificate to the Lok Sabha staff.
  • Parliament added this safeguard after an incident in 1957, in which a mentally unsound individual posed as an MP and took the oath on the floor of the House.
  • After the verification, MPs can subscribe to the oath or affirmation in English or any of the 22 languages specified in the Constitution.
  • Roughly half the MPs take their oath in Hindi or English. In the last two Lok Sabhas, Sanskrit has also been a popular language in which MPs have taken oaths.
  • In 2019, 44 MPs and in 2014, 39 MPs took oath in Sanskrit.
  • Oaths and affirmations are a matter of personal choice for MPs. In the last Lok Sabha, 87% of MPs swore in the name of God, and the other 13% affirmed their allegiance to the Constitution.
  • MPs have sometimes sworn in the name of God in one term and affirmed in another.
Source- Indian Express

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