BJP MP Om Birla returned as the Lok Sabha Speaker today, securing the position for the second consecutive term through a voice vote. Birla was up against INDIA candidate and Congress leader K Suresh, who filed his nomination on Tuesday after the BJP and the Opposition failed to reach a consensus last evening.
The NDA candidate retained the Speaker’s post in the 18th Lok Sabha as the numbers were in favour of the ruling coalition. While Birla garnered the support of 297 MPs, Suresh got 232 votes.
Amid applause from the House, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju escorted Birla to the Speaker’s chair. Gandhi congratulated Birla and also shook hands with him as well as PM Modi.
PM Modi said that Birla’s experience as a Speaker in the last term would help him guide the country in the new term. “I congratulate you on behalf of the entire House and look forward to your guidance for next five years.”
Saying that “his sweet smile keeps the entire House happy,” the PM added that Birla’s work as parliamentarian should be inspiration for new Lok Sabha members.
Rahul Gandhi said that the Opposition would like to assist him in his work and that he was confident that Birla would allow the Opposition to speak in the House.
Gandhi emphasised that even though the government has the political power, the Opposition also represents the voice of the people. He said, “Cooperation must happen based on trust and the voice of the Opposition is allowed to be represented in the House. The question is not how efficiently the House is running, the question is how much of India’s voice is being allowed to be heard in the House. So the idea, that you can run the House efficiently by silencing the voice of the Opposition is non-democratic. This election has shown that the people of India expect the Opposition to defend the country’s Constitution.”
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, a key INDIA bloc member, said that they will stand by his decisions, but he expected that it wouldn’t just be the opposition leaders who would be under check. “Opposition expects that their voice will not be crushed and there will be no more expulsions from the House,” Yadav said.
The Speaker is elected by a simple majority. The candidate who receives more than half of the votes from the members present in the house becomes the Speaker. The NDA has 293 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha, whereas the opposition alliance has 232. Seven MPs were yet to take their oaths and the Wayanad seat in Kerala has been vacated by Rahul Gandhi. Of the 543 members, 535 MPs were eligible to vote today, with 268 being the majority mark.
Om Birla already had the support of 293 MPs and four MPs from Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party. The BJP had reached out to other MPs to cross the 300-mark.
Barring a few occasions, the Lok Sabha Speaker was chosen through consensus in the past. The NDA government had sought the support of Opposition parties. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the party as well as the INDIA bloc would back the NDA candidate if the Deputy Speaker position were allocated to the Opposition. However, the government said that they are not currently considering the appointment of a Deputy Speaker or entertaining the Opposition’s request for the post. This prompted the last-minute fielding of K Suresh against Om Birla.
