1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will move the motion to designate Om Birla as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha when Parliament reconvenes today at 11 a.m.
2. Rajnath Singh, the Minister of Defence, will second the motion.
3. This will be the first election for the position since 1976.
New Delhi, June 26: When Parliament reconvenes today at 11 a.m., Prime Minister Narendra Modi will move the motion to designate Om Birla as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Rajnath Singh, the Minister of Defence, will second the motion. This will be the first election for the position since 1976.
For the second time, Om Birla has been put forward by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to run for Speaker. He will compete against K. Suresh of the opposition-led INDIA bloc.
The INDIA group decided to field K. Suresh, a prominent Dalit Congress member and eight-time MP after their agreement with the NDA broke down.
Tuesday saw significant drama as the opposition abruptly changed its stance at the last minute, deciding to endorse Om Birla instead of fielding their candidate. Senior BJP leaders refused to accept the opposition’s demand for the office of Deputy Speaker, leading to this decision.
After brief discussions in Rajnath Singh’s office, Union Minister Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh, and INDIA bloc’s KC Venugopal from Congress and TR Baalu from DMK could not resolve the issue. Both the NDA and the opposition maintained their positions.
Later, Lalan Singh of JD(U) and Piyush Goyal of BJP accused the opposition of using pressure tactics.
NDA’s Proposals in Favor of Om Birla
The NDA will present up to thirteen recommendations in the Lok Sabha today supporting Om Birla, including ones from Dalit, tribal, and female leaders.
The spotlight will be on BJP members Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Amit Shah, and Nitin Gadkari, among others.
In addition to PM Modi and Rajnath Singh, who will move the first and second proposals, respectively, NDA leaders Lalan Singh of JD(U), Jitan Ram Manjhi of Hindustani Awam Morcha, Prataprao Jadhav of Shiv Sena, HD Kumaraswamy of Janata Dal (Secular), and Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal (Soneylal) will also move proposals in support of Om Birla.
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Om Birla: A Strong Favorite
The INDIA group, with 233 members in the house compared to the NDA’s 293 members, faces a tough challenge in the Speaker’s race. A side requires 271 of the 542 Lok Sabha votes to win.
Additionally, seven MPs—five of whom are from the INDIA bloc—have not yet taken the oath of office and will not do so until the election of the Speaker.
Furthermore, sources said that Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP, which does not belong to any alliance, has chosen to support Om Birla.
There are four MPs from the former Andhra Chief Minister’s party in the Lok Sabha.