Modi 3.0: BJP MP Om Birla files nomination for 18th Lok Sabha Speaker post

BJP MP Om Birla filed his nomination on Tuesday for the post of Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha as an NDA consensus candidate, a position he held in the previous House. Before filing papers, Om Birla also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier today.

JD(U) leader and Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh told reporters here that Birla's name was decided unanimously by all NDA parties and that senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh also reached out to the opposition for their support.

The opposition wanted a decision on the post of deputy speaker immediately despite Rajnath Singh requesting that everyone should sit together and discuss the issue when the time comes for the selection, Singh said as quoted by PTI.

His Cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal said it would have been better to have an consensus candidate and criticised the opposition for putting forth conditions. Democracy cannot be run on conditions, he asserted.

The opposition INDIA bloc has fielded Congress leader K Suresh as its candidate for the speaker's post. This will be the first time that elections will be held for the lower house Speaker. Since independence, the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker have been elected by consensus between the ruling party and the opposition. The elections for the post will be held on June 26.

Earlier, senior cabinet minister Rajnath Singh had been reaching out to opposition leaders on behalf of the government in a bid to build consensus for the post of Speaker and deputy Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament.

Rahul Gandhi also said that they had conveyed to Rajnath Singh that the opposition is ready to extend support to NDA's Speaker candidate, but the post of Deputy Speaker should be given to the opposition.

“We have said to Rajnath Singh that we will support their candidate for Speaker but the convention is that the post of Deputy Speaker be given to the opposition,” he told media persons earlier today. 

The Lok Sabha Speaker will be elected on June 26. On June 27, President Murmu is scheduled to address a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament. The NDA, which has 293 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha, enjoys a clear majority, with the opposition INDIA bloc having 234 MPs.

(With inputs from agencies)