Consider the following statements: 1) The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly shall vacate his/her office if he/she ceases to be a member of the Assembly. 2) Whenever the Legislative Assembly is dissolved, the Speaker shall vacate his/her immediately. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Statement 1 is correct. Under Article 179(c), the Speaker vacates office if he or she ceases to be a member of the Assembly. Article 179 lists three ways the office falls vacant: ceasing to be a member, resignation addressed to the Deputy Speaker, and removal by a resolution passed by a majority of all members of the Assembly, after 14 days' notice.

Statement 2 is wrong. The proviso to Article 179 says that on dissolution the Speaker does not vacate office immediately. He or she continues until immediately before the first meeting of the new Assembly. This keeps the office functioning through the transition, and it is the same rule that applies to the Lok Sabha Speaker under Article 94.

Hence only statement 1 is correct, and option A is the answer. Option C fails because statement 2 is incorrect, and option D fails because statement 1 is true.

Core concept: the tenure rules for presiding officers and continuity of the House under Article 179. For Mains, this links to the independence of the presiding officer and the role of the Speaker in the anti-defection regime under the Tenth Schedule.

Trap: Candidates assume the Speaker's post ends with the House on dissolution and forget the proviso. Read the proviso, not just the main clause.