New Delhi: BJP MP from Kota Om Birla was elected as the Lok Sabha Speaker following a voice vote on Wednesday. Protem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab made the announcement after the opposition, which had proposed Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh as its candidate, did not press for votes to the motion.
Soon after, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju went to Birla's seat in the front row of the treasury benches to escort him to the chair. Leader of Opposition and Congress MP from Raebareli Rahul Gandhi also joined them.
Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Rijiju escorted Birla to the chair where Mahtab welcomed him saying, "it is your chair, please occupy."
Birla's work an inspiration: Modi
"It is a matter of honour that Birla has been elected to this chair for second time. Birla's work as parliamentarian should be inspiration for new Lok Sabha members.The previous Lok Sabha passed several path-breaking legislations under his leadership," Modi said.
Consider Opposition's voice as well: Rahul Gandhi
Gandhi congratulated the newly elected Speaker and requested him to consider the opinions voiced by the Opposition and allow them to represent the people in the House. "The question is not whether the House is being run efficiently. It is about how the voice of the people is represented in the House without being suppressed," he said.
The election for the Lok Sabha Speaker post began shortly after at 11 am on Wednesday. While the ruling BJP-led NDA fielded previous Lok Sabha Speaker Birla for the crucial parliamentary position again, opposition nominated eight-time Dalit MP Kodikunnil Suresh as its candidate. While elections to the Speaker's post were common before theIndependence, the position of the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha has witnessed contests only three times in Independent India in 1952, 1967 and 1976.
Thirteen sets of nominations (called notices for motion) were filed in support of Birla's candidature, including from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and members of BJP allies like TDP, JD(U), JD(S) and LJP(R). Three nominations were filed in support of Suresh and it was supported by all INDIA bloc allies.
Both the BJP and the Congress had issued three-line whips to their members, mandating their presence in the Lok Sabha. The election was straightforward with voting done by a simple majority of members present and voting in the House. President Draupadi Murmu will address a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on June 27.
How the numbers looked
With the NDA having 293 MPs in its kitty and the INDIA bloc 233, numbers clearly favoured Birla in Lok Sabha, which currently has 542 members after Rahul Gandhi resigned from one of the two seats he was elected from. At least three independent members also supported the opposition. Some unaligned parties, including the YSR Congress having four MPs, backed Birla.
Election process
The election of the Speaker is governed by Article 93 of the Constitution. It says: "The House of the People shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the House to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof and, so often as the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, the House shall choose another member to be Speaker or Deputy Speaker, as the case may be."
As for the criteria to be elected to the post, the Constitution mandates that the Speaker must be a member of the House. There is no mention of any specific qualifications. Though the convention is that a ruling party member (party with the most MPs) becomes the Speaker and a member of the opposition becomes the Deputy Speaker, the last two NDA governments did not see the Opposition get the Deputy Speaker's post.
Deputy Speaker debate
The last-minute decision by the Opposition to go for a rare contest came after senior BJP leaders did not agree to its precondition that the INDIA bloc must be offered the post of Deputy Speaker in lieu of supporting Birla.
A brief interaction involving Congress leader KC Venugopal and DMK's TR Baalu from the opposition side and Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and JP Nadda, who is also the BJP president, at Singh's office in Parliament to evolve a consensus ended in acrimony as both sides stuck to their position. Union ministers Piyush Goyal of the BJP and Lalan Singh of the JD(U) accused the opposition of resorting to pressure politics and putting forth preconditions despite senior ministers' assurance that its demand would be considered when the time to pick the Deputy Speaker comes. BJP sources claimed that the Congress has been the main aggressor on the issue and some other INDIA bloc members are not very keen on a contest.
Meet the candidates
OM BIRLA
If Birla, the BJP MP from Kota, is elected, it will be fifth time that a Speaker would serve beyond the tenure of one Lok Sabha. Though Congress leader Balram Jakhar is the only presiding officer to have served two complete terms extending seventh and eighth Lok Sabha.
A third-term MP, Birla is also a three-term former Rajasthan MLA and has risen through the ranks in the BJP.
KODIKUNNIL SURESH
Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and Mavelikkara MP Kodikkunnil Suresh is the senior-most member of the Lok Sabha. This is Suresh's eighth term as an MP and fourth win from Mavelikkara. Suresh has set a new record for the highest number of terms as an MP from Kerala, surpassing GM Banatwala's seven consecutive terms from Ponnani, and KP Unnikrishnan's six terms from Vadakara.
Suresh said it is not about winning or losing, but about a convention that Speaker will be of ruling party and Deputy Speaker from the opposition.
"Last two Lok Sabhas, they denied us Deputy Speaker's post because they said you are not recognised as the opposition. Now we are recognised as the opposition, (and) Deputy Speaker post is our right. But they are not ready to give us. Till 11.50, we were waiting for reply from government's side but they did not give any reply," he told reporters.
Though the Speaker is independent of political and executive control, realpolitik considerations are often the driving force behind the choice for the Chair which is the nerve centre of Parliament's functioning.