Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha

For Rajya Sabha, see Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

The leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha (IAST: Lok Sabhā ke Vipakṣa ke Netā) is an elected Member of Lok Sabha who leads the official opposition in the Lower House of the Parliament of India. The leader of the opposition is the parliamentary chairperson of the largest political party in the Lok Sabha that is not in government (provided that said political party has at least 10% of the seats in the Lok Sabha).^[1] Rahul Gandhi is currently serving as leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha.^[2]

Leader of the Opposition of Lok Sabha
Lok Sabhā ke Vipakṣa ke Netā
Logo of The Lok Sabha
Incumbent Rahul Gandhi since 9 June 2024
Style	The Honourable
Type	Leader of the opposition
Status	Head of the opposition alliance or main opposition party
Residence	10, Janpath, New Delhi
Nominator	Members of the Official Opposition in the Lok Sabha
Appointer	Speaker of the Lok Sabha
Term length	5 years
Inaugural holder	Ram Subhag Singh (1969–1970)
Formation	1950
Deputy	Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Salary	₹330,000 (US$3,900) (excl. allowances) per month
Website	sansad.in/ls

The office holder ranks 7th in the Order of Precedence of India.^[3]

History

In the Lok Sabha 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,

1. They should be a member of the House
2. of the party in opposition to the Government having the greatest numerical strength and
3. be recognized by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha

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
  • 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.^[4]

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”.^[1]

List of leaders of the opposition in Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha 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.^[5] 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.^[6]

  Vacant

No.	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Tenure			Lok Sabha	Prime Minister	Party
1		Ram Subhag Singh	Buxar	17 December 1969	27 December 1970	1 year, 10 days	4th	Indira Gandhi	Indian National Congress (O)
–	–	Vacant	–	28 December 1970	30 June 1977	6 years, 185 days	5th		No official opposition
2		Yashwantrao Chavan	Satara	1 July 1977	11 April 1978	284 days	6th	Morarji Desai	Indian National Congress
3		C. M. Stephen	Idukki	12 April 1978	9 July 1979	1 year, 88 days
(2)		Yashwantrao Chavan	Satara	10 July 1979	28 July 1979	18 days
4		Jagjivan Ram	Sasaram	29 July 1979	22 August 1979	24 days		Charan Singh	Janata Party
–	–	Vacant	–	23 August 1979	31 December 1984	10 years, 117 days	7th	Indira Gandhi	No official opposition[7]
				1 January 1985	17 December 1989		8th	Rajiv Gandhi
5		Rajiv Gandhi	Amethi	18 December 1989	23 December 1990	1 year, 5 days	9th	VP Singh	Indian National Congress
6		L. K. Advani	New Delhi	24 December 1990	13 March 1991	2 years, 214 days		Chandra Shekhar	Bharatiya Janata Party
			Gandhinagar	14 March 1991	20 July 1993		10th	P. V. Narasimha Rao
7		Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Lucknow	21 July 1993	15 May 1996	2 years, 289 days
8		P. V. Narasimha Rao	Berhampur	16 May 1996	31 May 1996	15 days	11th	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Indian National Congress
(7)		Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Lucknow	1 June 1996	4 December 1997	1 year, 186 days		Deve Gowda IK Gujral	Bharatiya Janata Party
9		Sharad Pawar	Baramati	5 December 1997	30 October 1999	1 year, 38 days	12th	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Indian National Congress
10		Sonia Gandhi	Amethi	31 October 1999	6 February 2004	4 years, 98 days	13th
(6)		L. K. Advani	Gandhinagar	21 May 2004	20 December 2009	5 years, 213 days	14th	Manmohan Singh	Bharatiya Janata Party
11		Sushma Swaraj	Vidisha	21 December 2009	19 May 2014	4 years, 149 days	15th
–	–	Vacant	–	20 May 2014	29 May 2019	10 years, 19 days	16th	Narendra Modi	No official opposition[7][8]
				30 May 2019	8 June 2024		17th
12		Rahul Gandhi	Raebareli	9 June 2024	Incumbent	1 year, 57 days	18th		Indian National Congress[9]

Statistics

List of leaders of the opposition by length of term

No.	Name	Party		Length of term
				Longest continuous term	Total years of opposition-ship
1	Lal Krishna Advani	BJP		5 years, 213 days	8 years, 62 days
2	Sushma Swaraj	BJP		4 years, 149 days	4 years, 149 days
3	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	BJP		2 years, 289 days	4 years, 110 days
4	Sonia Gandhi	INC		4 years, 98 days	4 years, 98 days
5	Rahul Gandhi	INC		1 year, 57 days	1 year, 57 days
6	C. M. Stephen	INC		1 year, 88 days	1 year, 88 days
7	Sharad Chandra Pawar	INC		1 year, 38 days	1 year, 38 days
8	Ram Subhag Singh	INC(O)		1 year, 10 days	1 year, 10 days
9	Rajiv Gandhi	INC		1 year, 5 days	1 year, 5 days
10	Yashwantrao Chavan	INC		284 days	302 days
11	Jagjivan Ram	JP		24 days	24 days
12	P. V. Narasimha Rao	INC		15 days	15 days
–	Vacant	–	–	10 years 117 days	26 years 321 days
–	Not Recognised	–	–	22 years 130 days	22 years 130 days

Fraction of time of holding LoP by party (as of August 2025)

1. Bharatiya Janata Party (16 years 321 days) (21.65%)
2. Indian National Congress (9 years, 238 days) (13.79%)
3. Indian National Congress (Organisation) (1 year 10 days) (1.31%)
4. Janata Party (25 days) (0.0843%)
5. Vacant (34.48%)
6. Not Recognised (28.68%)

Deputy leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha

The deputy leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha (IAST: Lok Sabhā ke Vipakṣa ke Upar Netā) is an elected Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha who serves the deputy to opposition leader in the Lower House of the Parliament of India.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected constituency	Term of office[10]			Lok Sabha (Election)	Political party		Leader of the Opposition
				Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		Sushma Swaraj	Vidisha	3 June 2009	21 December 2009	201 days	15th (2009)	Bharatiya Janata Party		Lal Krishna Advani
2		Gopinath Munde	Beed	22 December 2009	18 May 2014	4 years, 147 days				Sushma Swaraj
3		Gaurav Gogoi	Jorhat	14 July 2024	Incumbent	1 year, 22 days	18th (2024)	Indian National Congress		Rahul Gandhi

See also

• Vice-President of India (Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha)
• Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha
• Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha
• Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha
• Leader of the House in Lok Sabha
• Secretary General of the Lok Sabha