The Puducherry Legislative Assembly will be witness to an unprecedented legislative proceeding on August 24 when the business of the house, including the customary address of the Lieutenant Governor and presentation of the budget for 2026-27 will be chaired by a Pro-tem Speaker.

Following the constitution of new Assemblies after every election, a Pro-tem Speaker is appointed to administer oath to the newly-elected members and also to conduct the proceedings of the election of Speaker. After the National Democratic Alliance government returned to power in the Union Territory in the April Assembly elections, Lieutenant Governor K. Kailashnathan on the recommendation of Chief Minister and AINRC founder N. Rangasamy appointed one of the senior most members A. Anbalagan, who represents the AIADMK, as the Pro-tem Speaker.

As per rules and conventions followed, the mandate given to the Pro-tem Speaker during his appointment by the Lt. Governor was to administer the oath to the elected legislators and then conduct the proceedings of the Speaker election.

In the scheme of legislative business, the responsibility of the Pro-tem Speaker ends with oath-taking of elected members and conducting the proceedings for the Speaker election. However, the election of Speaker has not taken place as the main constituents of the NDA in Puducherry — the AINRC and BJP — have failed to arrive at an understanding on the nominee for Speaker election.

Without holding the election of Speaker, the government convened the Assembly to pass the annual financial statement before the tenure of vote on account of ₹5,396 crore presented in February lapses by end of this month. The government has to pass the budget before August 31 for drawing funds for meeting expenditure requirements of the administration.

“After every election, the government formation is immediately followed by election to the post of Speaker and Deputy Speaker. The Speaker chairs the regular session of the Assembly. By rule and convention, we have been following the procedure since the enactment of the UT Act. For the first time, a session of the Puducherry Assembly will be chaired by the Pro-tem Speaker, probably even a first-of-its-kind legislative business in the country itself,” a senior politician and former MLA told The Hindu. 

The ruling party legislators say there is no rule in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly and Union Territories Act, 1963 that prevented the Pro-tem Speaker from holding the regular proceedings.

“There is no rule which prevents me from chairing the proceedings of budget session,” was the reply given by Mr. Anbalagan last week to a related question when he convened a press conference to announce the budget session of the Assembly.

As per the schedule announced by the Pro-tem Speaker, the Assembly will convene around 9.30 a.m. on August 24. It will commence with the address of the Lt. Governor and on the same day, Mr. Rangasamy, who also holds the Finance portfolio, will present the annual budget around 3 p.m.

Sources in the government said the budget session would be held for a short duration, probably for five days.

Published - August 22, 2026 09:09 pm IST