Live updates of Lok Sabha Speaker elections 2024: Om Birla vs K Suresh face off in first Speaker election today

Regarding the TMC’s “unilateral decision” regarding the Union of India’s Speaker candidate, Indian National Congress MP K. Suresh said, “Everything was resolved yesterday evening. Their leaders Derek O’Brien and Kalyan Banerjee attended the Union of India meeting at Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence last night. We have explained the situation and they understand it and will cooperate with us.”

K Suresh, a Congress MP and Union of India’s Lok Sabha Speaker candidate, said, “The government has forced the Union of India to contest the elections. We are not going to contest the elections for Speaker, but when the government reached out to the Union of India, particularly the Congress leadership, we asked about the deputy speaker’s post. No assurance was given then. Yesterday too, we did not get any assurance by 11.30 am. They said they would support the Speaker election first and then discuss the deputy speaker. So, the response was not satisfactory. So, our leaders have decided to contest the Speaker election. This election is a firm stand of the NDA leadership. Elsewhere, this could have been avoided. But they are neither ready to work with the opposition nor ready to give the opposition a chance in the deputy speaker’s post. That is why this election is being held today. But the entire responsibility of this election lies with the NDA leadership.”

“Numbers are not an issue, the only issue is convention. The ruling NDA has broken convention. That’s why we are fighting (the elections),” said K. Suresh, a Congress leader and India bloc candidate for Lok Sabha speaker.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to move a motion in the Indian Parliament today to elect Om Birla as Speaker of the House of Representatives, amid an ongoing battle for the Speaker’s post with the opposition Party of India.

Today’s agenda item is for the remaining members who have not yet taken the oath or declaration of oath to sign the Members’ Register.

Later, in what is expected to be a heated debate, PM Modi will move a motion to elect Om Birla, a member of the Indian Lok Sabha, as the Speaker. Rajnath Singh will second the motion. (ANI)

As the ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA alliance clash on Wednesday over the post of Lok Sabha Speaker, Tankapan Achari, former general secretary of the Indian Congress PD, said elections for this key post, though rare, have been held before.

“Elections have always been held and elections have to be held but contests have rarely taken place. But it has happened,” Achari told news agency ANI on Tuesday. (ANI)

Odisha: Commenting on the NDA’s nomination of Om Birla as Speaker of the Lok Sabha, BJD MP Mujibullah Khan said, “…we were expecting interim Speaker Baathhari Mahtab to be nominated as Speaker. He is a very experienced leader. The NDA has given 20 MPs to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is unfair to Odisha. We were expecting at least four ministries and the Speaker’s post for the Odisha MP…Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram have ministries but still we were expecting more…We will raise the issue of Odisha in Parliament and prove ourselves to be a good opposition. Our leader Naveen Patnaik has given us free rein…” (25.06)

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said, “In a democratic system, customs and traditions carry the same weight as rules and regulations. Whether in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, the post of Speaker belongs to the ruling party and the post of Deputy Speaker always belongs to the Opposition, barring one or two occasions. The Bharatiya Janata Party has started a new tradition. They do not appoint a Deputy Speaker and if they do, it is someone from an alliance party. This is a mockery of democracy. It is a cruel treatment of democracy. Hence, to express our democratic protest, we have fielded K Suresh, an eight-time MP, against their candidate. Whereas, Birla is a one- or thrice-time MP. We fully expect that a majority of MPs in the Rajya Sabha will support Suresh…”

Delhi: On the post of Lok Sabha Speaker, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Tejaswi Surya said, “The NDA made all efforts to reach a consensus but the Opposition adopted a very confrontational attitude and instead of coming together to unanimously elect the Speaker, they chose to field a candidate…I am confident that Om Birla will win and continue his work of upholding democracy…”

K Suresh’s nomination as the opposition candidate came after tense discussions between the NDA and the Union of India over the post of deputy speaker. The Union of India said it was ready to support the NDA candidate only if the post was given to the opposition.

“Rajnath Singh has called Mallikarjun Kharge and requested him to support the Speaker. All the Opposition parties have said they will support the Speaker but as per convention, the post of Deputy Speaker should be given to the Opposition party. Rajnath Singh said he will call Mallikarjun Kharge back but he is yet to call,” Rahul Gandhi said.

The Speaker of the Indian Lok Sabha is elected by a simple majority vote: more than half of the 543 members present in the Indian Lok Sabha vote for a particular candidate to become the Speaker of the Indian Lok Sabha.

The NDA has an overwhelming majority with 293 seats in the 543-seat Lower House. The opposition has 234 seats in the Lower House.

With the NDA in majority, Om Birla is likely to be inaugurated for a second term as Lok Sabha Speaker. Om Birla was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014. He was unanimously elected as Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha when he returned as an MP from Kota.