“I, Narendra Damodar Das Modi, having been elected a member of the Lok Sabha, do swear in the name of God 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 duties of the office I am about to assume.”

On 24th June, during the opening session of the 18th Lok Sabha, when the Protem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab was administering oath to all the elected MPs, most of them were taking oath in the name of God. In such a situation, a question arises whether it is necessary for MPs to take oath in the name of God. What if an MP does not believe in God?

A similar dilemma had come up when the draft of the Constitution was being prepared. The drafting committee headed by the country’s first law minister Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar did not mention God in any of the oaths prepared by it. Then how did God’s name get included in the oath? But before knowing this story, let us understand a little about the importance of oath for an MP. What if an MP does not take the oath?

In fact, the five-year term of an MP begins only when the Election Commission of India (ECI) declares the results under Section 73 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. After this, the elected MPs become eligible for some rights. For example, they start receiving their salary and allowances from the date of notification. This time the ECI declared the results of the general elections on 6 June.

But wait a minute. An MP does not get permission to participate in the proceedings of the House merely by winning the election and starting his term. To debate and vote in the Lok Sabha, an MP has to first take an oath (in which God is considered a witness) or a pledge (this is a kind of promise) to secure his seat in the House. The details of oath and pledge for MPs have been prescribed in Article 99 of the Constitution.

If an MP participates in the proceedings of the House or votes without taking the oath, a penalty of Rs 500 has been prescribed for him in the Constitution. This is the only financial penalty for MPs mentioned in the Constitution, which is mentioned under Article 104.

However, an exception to this rule is that a person can become a minister even without being elected to Parliament. In the meantime, he has six months to secure a seat in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. During this time he can participate in the proceedings of the House but cannot vote. Anyway, coming back to the story, is it necessary for MPs to take oath in the name of God?

As mentioned above, there was no mention of God in any of the oaths prepared by the Constitution Drafting Committee. The committee said that the person taking the oath promises to have true faith and allegiance to the Constitution with complete sincerity and honesty. But when the members of the Constituent Assembly were discussing this draft, a question arose among them.

The question was about the oath of the President. After this, members like K.T. Shah and Mahavir Tyagi introduced an amendment to add God in the oath. Shah argued, “When I studied the Constitution, I realized that there was a void in it. I don’t know why, maybe we forgot to invoke the grace and blessings of God in it.”

Mahavir Tyagi said, “Those who believe in God will take oath in the name of God. And for those agnostics who do not believe in God, they will only take oath with honesty. So that there is freedom for everyone’s faith.” However, many people also disagreed with adding the name of God in the oath.

Ambedkar accepted these amendments. He said that “for some people God is a sanction. They feel that God is a regulating power for the universe as well as for their individual lives. And if they take oath in the name of God, the oath taken in His name confers a sanction which is necessary for the discharge of duties and which is purely moral.”

After this, despite the secular preamble, the third schedule of the constitution gives the option of either taking oath “in the name of God” or “solemnly affirming” depending on the faith of the person taking the oath. However, many people criticize that since the nature of the constitution itself is said to be secular, then why do MPs or MLAs take oath in the name of God?