For the first time since Independence, there will be an election for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker. This follows the failure of consensus talks, where the Congress-led INDIA alliance demanded the deputy speaker position, traditionally held by the opposition, which the ruling party refused. Typically, the speaker’s position belongs to the ruling party, while the deputy speaker is elected from the opposition
Following this, the opposition on Tuesday went against the parliamentary convention and fielded K Suresh as its candidate for the Lok Sabha Speaker election. K Suresh will fight against NDA’s Om Birla for the post of Lok Sabha speaker in the first-ever election for the Lok Sabha speaker.
After filing the nomination, the opposition nominee K. Suresh said, “I have filed my nomination. It is the party’s decision, not mine. There is a convention in Lok Sabha where the speaker will be from the ruling party and the Deputy Speaker will be from the opposition… Deputy Speaker is our right. But they are not ready to give it to us. Till 11:50 am we were waiting for a response from the government, but they did not give any response. That is why we filed the nomination.”
The election for the new Lok Sabha speaker will be held on 26 June. However, the union ministers have already taken the oath for the 18th Lok Sabha inaugural session, scheduled from 24th June to 3rd July. The ruling party unlike the previous two terms fell short of getting the majority and relied on their allies to form the government.
However, OM Birla is still the favourite for the position of the Lok Sabha speaker as even the opposition has reportedly shown support for the NDA’s nominee in exchange for the deputy speaker’s post.
In 2019, Birla was surprisingly elected as the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha, marking the first time an MP from Rajasthan has held this position.
The speaker is elected by a simple majority, which means that the candidate receiving more than half of the votes from the members of the house will become the speaker.
