The BJP-led NDA, on Tuesday, nominated Om Birla as its candidate for the post of Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha, while the Congress-led INDIA bloc has fielded eight-time MP from Kerala Kodikunnil Suresh for the post.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju were deployed by the government to build a consensus on the Lok Sabha Speaker candidate after the Opposition INDIA bloc said it was considering its options.
The INDIA bloc, earlier in the day, said it was willing to back Birla, but sought immediate assurance of the Deputy Speaker post to be allotted to a member of the Opposition, in keeping with parliamentary tradition.
However, this was not accepted as the BJP-led NDA did not want any conditional support.
Why INDIA fielded K Suresh last moment?
Talking to media after filing his nomination, Suresh said: “There is a convention in the Lok Sabha that the Speaker will be from the ruling party and the Deputy Speaker will be from the Opposition. Deputy Speaker is our right. But they are not ready to give it to us. Till 11:50 am (on Tuesday) we were waiting for a response from the government, but they did not give any response. That is why we filed the nomination.”
‘Disheartening that Congress nominated candidate for Speaker post’
Meanwhile, Rijiju said: “We had a conversation with all the floor leaders of the Opposition regarding the post of the Speaker. The Speaker is not for a party, it is for the functioning of the House. The Speaker is elected unanimously. It is disheartening that Congress has nominated its candidate for the Speaker. No election has ever taken place for the post of the Speaker.”
“Congress put this condition that if they get the post of Deputy Speaker they will support our candidate for the Speaker’s post. This give and take of posts of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker is not right,” Rijiju further said.
Lok Sabha Speaker election date
The election of the Lok Sabha Speaker is scheduled for June 26.
A Lok Sabha Speaker is elected by a simple majority of MPs voting.
The Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker have been chosen through consensus between the ruling party and the Opposition.
Has Lok Sabha Speaker election happened before?
Yes, only two times in the independent India. The election of the Lok Sabha Speaker on June 26 will be for the third time.
The first election took place in Independent India in 1952 and the contest was between GV Mavalankar and Shankar Shantaram.
In 1976 (during Emergency) there was an election for the Speaker. The contest was between Bali Ram Bhagat and Jagannath Rao.
NDA sticks to continuity
If elected, Birla will be the Speaker of the Lower House of the parliament for the second consecutive term. He has served as the LS Speaker in the Modi 2.0 between 2019 and 2024.
Also, if Birla becomes Lok Sabha Speaker again, he will equal the record of Congress’s Balram Jhakhar who was elected as Speaker twice and was in the chair from 1980 to 1989. In over three decades, Birla is the only Speaker who got re-elected to the Lok Sabha after serving five years in the office.
7 things to know about Om Birla, NDA’s Lok Sabha Speaker candidate
1 – Om Birla won the Kota seat in Rajasthan by a margin of over 41,000 votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, defeating Congress’ Prahlad Gunjal.
2 – Birla is the first Lok Sabha Speaker in two decades to be re-elected in the Lower House.
3 – He has been associated with the BJP since his early days as a student leader.
4 – In 1991, Birla became the Rajasthan State President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP.
5 – Birla was first elected to the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly in 2003 after he won from the Kota South seat.
6 – Birla was made the BJP’s National Vice President in 1997.
7 – In 2019, he was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha, becoming the first MP from Rajasthan to hold the position.
Who is K Suresh, INDIA bloc’s Lok Sabha Speaker candidate?
Suresh has won his eighth Lok Sabha election from Mavelikkara in the recently concluded polls.
He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989, and has lost only twice while retaining the Mavelikkara seat since 2009, when he was made the Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment in the second UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
In 2021, he was seen as one of the frontrunners for the Kerala Congress chief’s post. He has also served as an All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary.
With inputs from agencies
Link to article –
It’s Om Birla vs K Suresh contest for Lok Sabha Speaker’s post
