New Delhi: Parliament will resume on Wednesday for elections to the Lok Sabha Speaker post, the fourth contest after a gap of almost 5 decades.
The fight will be between BJP’s Om Birla, three-time MP from Rajasthan’s Kota and the Speaker in the last Lok Sabha, and Congress’s eight-term MP from Kerala’s Mavelikara, K Suresh. The House will first see MPs, who haven’t yet taken the oath, sign the roll of members. Prime Minister Modi will then propose Om Birla as the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha, with Rajnath Singh seconding the motion, reinforcing the message of continuity.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Ganpat Sawant, Samajwadi Party MP Anand Bhadauria, and NCP (SCP) MP Supriya Sule will move the motion that K Suresh be chosen as the Speaker.
A Speaker is elected by a simple majority of MPs voting and one side would need 271 votes, half of 542 (Wayanad seat vacant) to win the contest. The INDIA bloc has 233 members in the House as opposed to NDA’s 293, which is also expected to have the support of the four MPs of YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress.
A day after expressing unhappiness about Congress not consulting the partners before declaring a contestant against Om Birla, Trinamool Congress has, however, decided to support Congress’s K Suresh in this rare election.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju has also issued a last appeal for a consensus candidate. “For the last two days, we have been in contact with main Opposition parties, talked to their floor leaders regarding the post of Speaker… We want the Speaker to be elected unopposed and through consensus,” he said.
The Opposition did a u-turn at the last minute on Tuesday after initially agreeing to support Om Birla when senior BJP leaders refused their precondition of offering the INDIA bloc the Deputy Speaker’s post.
Elections to pick the Speaker have earlier been held in 1952, 1967 and 1976.
1952: The first such contest was between GV Mavalankar, a prominent freedom fighter belonging to Gujarat and a former member of the Constituent Assembly, and Shankar Shantaram More after the first general election. Mavalankar won with 394 votes whereas More, one of the founders of the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWPI), a Marxist political party, got 55.
1967: Congress’ nominee Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy fought against Tenni Vishwanathan, an Independent MP who was backed by stalwarts like Madhu Limaye. Reddy won by polling in 278 votes against Viswanatham’s 207.
1976: Congress MP Baliram Bhagat won, securing 344 votes vs Jagannathrao Joshi, a member of Jana Sangh, who got 58 during the emergency when the duration of the fifth Session of Parliament was extended by a year.