Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will not occupy chair until Opposition's no-confidence motion is resolved

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has decided on moral grounds that he will not attend the proceedings of the House until the no-confidence motion notice brought by the Opposition against him is resolved, his office has informed. The decision to not occupy the Speaker's chair came after the Congress submitted a notice of no-confidence motion against Om Birla on Tuesday, 10 February.

The speaker has directed the House secretary-general to review the no-confidence notice against him and take appropriate action, sources were quoted by ANI as saying.

Article 96 of the Constitution also bars a speaker or a deputy speaker from presiding over the House sitting while a resolution for his removal from office is under consideration. If the resolution is discussed in the Lok Sabha, Om Birla has a constitutional right to defend himself in the House.

As many as 118 Opposition MPs had submitted a notice for moving the resolution to remove Om Birla from office for not allowing Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders to speak in the House on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, as well as for suspending eight MPs.

While Trinamool Congress MPs had stayed away from signing the no-confidence motion, Congress MP and chief whip K Suresh submitted the notice to the Lok Sabha secretariat. The MPs who signed the letter included legislators from the Samajwadi Party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

News agencies had shared earlier in the day that Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi had not signed the no-confidence letter. The reason cited by sources quoted by ANI is that it was improper for the LoP to sign a petition for the removal of the speaker in a parliamentary democracy.

What did the no-confidence notice say?

Congress MP Manickam Tagore had shared a copy of the no-confidence motion notice on X. It mentioned that the Opposition MPs had alleged “blatantly partisan” conduct and that the Opposition leaders were not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha, which they insisted was their basic democratic right. The no-confidence motion cited four incidents against the speaker.

It said, “We, the undersigned, hereby give notice of a resolution for the removal of Shri Om Birla from the office of Speaker Lok Sabha, in terms of the provisions of Article 94(c) of the Constitution of India, because of the blatantly partisan manner in which he has been conducting the business of the Lok Sabha. On several occasions, Leaders of Opposition Parties have just not been allowed to speak, which is their basic democratic right in Parliament.”

The incidents it mentioned included the Opposition's allegation that Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to speak in Parliament during the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, the suspension of eight Opposition members for “exercising their democratic rights” and allegation that a BJP MP was permitted to make “wholly objectionable and personalised attacks on two former prime ministers without being reprimanded even once for disregarding established conventions and norms of propriety.”

“In spite of our request, no action has been taken against this particular Member of Parliament, who is a habitual offender,” the motion mentioned.