Om Birla and K Suresh Compete for Lok Sabha Speaker Post

Efforts by the BJP’s top leadership to reach a consensus on the position of the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha failed when the INDIA bloc nominated 8-time MP K Suresh for the post. His nomination followed the filing of a nomination by BJP’s Kota MP Om Birla, who was the Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha.

This will be the first time elections will be held for the Speaker of the lower house. Traditionally, the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker have been elected by consensus between the ruling party and the opposition. The elections for the post will be held on June 26.

BJP MP Piyush Goyal said there was no precedent to suggest that the Deputy Speaker’s post must go to the opposition, and criticized the opposition for choosing a showdown. He stated, “A good tradition would have been to choose the Speaker unanimously. The Speaker does not belong to any party or opposition; he belongs to the entire House.”

Earlier, senior cabinet minister Rajnath Singh had been reaching out to opposition leaders on behalf of the government to build consensus for the post of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said they had conveyed to Rajnath Singh that the opposition is ready to support NDA’s Speaker candidate if the Deputy Speaker post is given to the opposition. Rahul also alleged that opposition leaders are getting “insulted.”

The Lok Sabha Speaker will be elected on June 26. On June 27, President Murmu is scheduled to address a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament. The NDA, which has 293 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha, enjoys a clear majority, with the opposition INDIA bloc having 234 MPs.