Lok Sabha on Wednesday elected Om Birla as Speaker by voice vote a day after Opposition's nomination of Congress leader K Suresh for the top Parliamentary post triggered a historic election. BJP-led NDA's consensus candidate Om Birla was elected Speaker after a motion moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was adopted through voice votes. Pro-tem Speaker B Mahtab made the announcement after the opposition did not press for votes to the motion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi escorted Om Birla to Lok Sabha Speaker's chair.
Opposition's move to nominate Congress leader K Suresh for Lok Sabha Speaker post after BJP-led NDA's consensus candidate Om Birla filed nomination paved way for a historic election to the top Parliamentary post on Tuesday.
While Om Birla's way initially seemed clear to take charge of the Lok Sabha speaker post after Opposition leaders said they were willing to back him, their condition of deputy speaker post's allotment to a member of the INDIA bloc, in lines with parliamentary tradition, were allegedly not agreed upon, prompting them to field their candidate for the top post.
Parliament Session Of 18th Lok Sabha | Key Updates
'Emergency' Sparks Row In Parliament: After Om Birla was elected Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday and leaders Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav extended greetings to him with an appeal to allow voice of Opposition to be heard, a row erupted over Birla reading out a resolution condemning the imposition of Emergency. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla termed the decision of Emergenct by then prime minister Indira Gandhi an attack on the Constitution, triggering a wave of protests by the opposition in the House, raising slogans. BJP also later staged a protest over Emergency. PM Modi later posted on X that he was 'glad' Speaker condemned Emergency.
Om Birla Is Lok Sabha Speaker: Lok Sabha on Wednesday elected Om Birla as Speaker by voice vote after a motion moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was adopted through voice votes. Opposition did not press for votes to the motion.
Speaker Election: For the election of Lok Sabha Speaker, Opposition fielded Congress leader K Suresh against NDA's consensus candidate Om Birla, who was expected to win given the numbers of the ruling alliance.' This is Om Birla's straight term as Lok Sabha Speaker.
ALSO READ | 'Jai Hind, Jai Samvidhan': Rahul Gandhi Takes Oath As Member Of 18th Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha Post Uncontested Since Independence: The Lok Sabha Speaker is a post for which names have been chosen by consensus between both the ruling and opposition parties since Independence. This means that Opposition INDIA bloc nomination of Congress leader K Suresh for the post has triggered an election for the Speaker of the Lok Sabha for the first time in the history of Independent India even though Om Birla was to win given the BJP-led alliance's majority.
ALSO READ | NDA's Om Birla VS Oppn's K Suresh: Lok Sabha Speaker Post Uncontested Since Independence, Until Now
How Is Lok Sabha Speaker Elected: As per Article 93 of the Constitution, the Lok Sabha shall, as soon as may be, choose two members to be speaker and deputy speaker so often as the offices become vacant. However, it does not provide a specific time frame. The Speaker is elected by a simple majority, meaning that the candidate who receives more than half of the votes from the members present in the house becomes the Speaker.
TMC Supports K Suresh: The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday decided to support Congress's K Suresh in the election for Lok Sabha Speaker, sources cited in an NDTV report said. The Mamata Banerjee-led party had yesterday said it was not consulted before K Suresh was fielded against NDA candidate Om Birla and had termed the decision "unilateral".
Lok Sabha Numbers: BJP won 240 seats and the Congress 99 in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections 2024. While BJP was unable to hit the majority mark of 272 alone, its allies took the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by it to a tally of 293, a comfortable yet reduced majority as compared to 2019 but enough to make its Lok Sabha Speaker candidate win. The Congress, which is part of the opposition INDIA bloc, won 99 seats compared to 52 it won in 2019. Other parties of INDIA bloc took the Opposition alliance's Lok Sabha election tally to 232.
Owaisi Concludes LS Oath With 'Jai Palestine': All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and MP Asaduddin Owaisi concluded his oath as a member of the 18th Lok Sabha with 'Jai Palestine' on Tuesday. An uproar from the treasury benches led to the Chair striking Owaisi's mention of Palestine off record. Owaisi, who won the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections 2024 frlm the Hyderabad seat of Telangana, starting his oath with an Islamic phrase and ended it with "Jai Bhim, Jai Meem, Jai Telangana, Jai Palestine".
1st Parliament Session Of 18th Lok Sabha: The first day of the 18th Lok Sabha began on a stormy note on Monday amid a war of words between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge over the imposition of Emergency in 1975 and strident appeals to 'protect democracy'. The opening session saw a total of 262 newly-elected MPs, including the prime minister, taking oath, the opposition staged a protest march inside Parliament complex, with MPs of the INDIA bloc raising slogans on "saving democracy" and displaying copies of the Constitution. The remaining new MPs took oath on Tuesday.
