| Post: | Leaders of the Opposition |
| Native Name: | Hindi: Bharat ke Vipakṣa ke Netā |
| Body: | India |
| Insignia: | Emblem_of_India.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 70px |
| Insigniacaption: | Emblem of India |
| Incumbent: | Rahul Gandhi (in Lok Sabha) Mallikarjun Kharge (in Rajya Sabha) |
| Termlength: | 5 years |
| Appointer: | While leader of the largest political party that is not in government |
| Residence: | New Delhi |
| Salary: | (excl. allowances) per month |
| Inaugural: | Ram Subhag Singh (in Lok Sabha) Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra (in Rajya Sabha) |
The Leaders of the Opposition of India (IAST: Hindi: Bhārata Ke Vipakṣa Ke Netā) are the politicians who lead the official opposition in either House of the Parliament of India. The Leader of the Opposition is the parliamentary chairperson of the largest political party in their respective legislative chamber that is not in government.
While the position also existed in former Central Legislative Assembly of British India, and holders of it there included Motilal Nehru, it received statutory recognition through the Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977 which defines the term "Leader of the Opposition" as that member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha who, for the time being, is the Leader of that House of the Party in Opposition to the Government having the greatest numerical strength and recognised, as such, by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha or the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.[1] [2]
As per the Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977 by which the post has got official and statutory status, the majority required is decided by the heads of the houses, that is speaker and chairman as the case may be. Clause 4 of The Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003, provides for the leader of the largest opposition party to be inducted as a member of the selection committee in a scenario where the lower house of parliament does not have a recognized leader of the opposition.[3]
The post is often misunderstood to be given only to the party in the opposition with at least of the numerical strength of the house, however there is no such rule as recognizing a member of the house as leader of opposition is a statutory decision. In the 1950s the Speaker of the House started the practice of recognizing parliamentary parties as ‘parties’ and ‘groups’ for the allotment of seats in the house, time for participating in the debates, rooms in Parliament House etc.[4]
For this purpose direction 121(c) was issued which laid down the recognition of a party or group in Lok Sabha as having “at least a strength equal to the quorum fixed to constitute a sitting of the House, that is one-tenth of the total number of members of the House”. The direction only mentions criteria for the recognition of a party or group and not of the leader of the opposition.[5]
The second chairperson for official opposition party in the house is called Deputy Leader of Opposition The Deputy Leader of the Opposition also holds the role of a shadow minister. This is not an official or constitutional post, however still exists to bring political stability and strength to the Opposition party in Government.