Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha)
Legislature
Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977
De jure
40
De facto
35
Volatility
45
Legitimacy
55
In theory
A statutory post: simply the leader of the single largest party in opposition to the government, recognised as such by the Speaker -- the 1977 Act sets no minimum seat threshold at all.
In practice
A widely repeated "10% rule" -- that a party needs at least a tenth of the House's seats to claim the post -- has no basis in the actual statute, yet Speakers invoked it to deny the Congress party the post for a full decade across the 16th and 17th Lok Sabhas (2014-2024) despite it being the largest opposition party both times, until it cleared the informal threshold in 2024.
Checks and balances
This office checks
→ Lokpal A seat on the Lokpal Selection Committee -- the office's absence from 2014-2019 delayed the Lokpal's own creation.Checked by
None recorded yet.
Sources
- The Wire and The Caravan reporting on the 2014/2019 Leader of Opposition recognition disputes
- Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977