Somnath Chatterjee was the Speaker of the fourteenth Lok Sabha. Chatterjee has been a 10-time member of the Lok Sabha. He was the first member of a Left party to become the Speaker. Chatterjee courted controversy, when his party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, included his name in a list of MPs, who were supposed to have withdrawn their support to the United Progressive government. Chatterjee opposed this and was subsequently expelled from the party.

He has since advocated that the Speaker should resign from their party to maintain neutrality.

Chatterjee was Speaker from June 5, 2004 till May 30, 2009.

In 1996, Chatterjee won the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award. Chatterjee also presided over the controversial trust vote in 2008, which saw three BJP MPs flash wads of money in the Lok Sabha. Chatterjee described this as the worst day of his parliamentary career.