Who Is K Suresh? I.N.D.I.A Bloc Nominee For Lok Sabha Speaker Post
Lok Sabha Session: The Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A on Tuesday nominated Congress MP K Suresh for the post of Lok Sabha speaker. He will be up against the NDA's candidate and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Om Birla. The opposition's decision to pit Suresh against Birla for the post came after the ruling NDA and the opposition bloc failed to reach consensus over the post.
Earlier, the opposition agreed to support the NDA's candidate Birla for the speaker post on the condition that the I.N.D.I.A bloc should get the deputy speaker post. After the BJP-led NDA refused the opposition's demand, the I.N.D.I.A bloc decided to nominate their candidate.
With K. Suresh's nomination for the post, it will be the first time that an election will be held for the speaker post in the Lower House. The election for the post of speaker in the Lower House is set to take place on Wednesday.
Who Is K Suresh?
Kodikunnil Suresh is an eight-term MP. He is the most senior member of the Lok Sabha. He currently represents the Mavelikara Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala.
On the first day of the Lok Sabha session, the Congress was expecting K Suresh to be chosen as the pro-tem Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha as per parliamentary norms, but that did not happen, and seven-term Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab of the BJP was named for the post. The decision saw resentment from the opposition, which called it against convention.
Suresh, who is a Congress Working Committee Member (Special Invitee), was one of the frontrunners for the post of chief of the party’s Kerala unit in 2021. He is also the working president of the Kerala Congress and the chief whip of the Congress parliamentary party in the Lower House.
The Congress leader entered the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1989. He went on to emerge victorious in the 1991, 1996, and 1999 Lok Sabha polls from the Adoor constituency. However, he faced defeat in the 1998 and 2004 polls.
Suresh won his eighth Lok Sabha election from Mavelikkara in the recently concluded polls. He has represented the constituency four times in the past and the erstwhile Adoor constituency four times. One of the big highlights of his political career came in 2009, when he was elevated as Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment in the second UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Suresh defeated CPI’s CA Arun Kumar by a margin of 10,000 votes.
Controversies
K Suresh had his share of controversies in the past. In 2010, the Kerala High Court disqualified him over his caste status.
According to an Indian Express report, the High Court was acting upon a plea filed by his opponent, R. S. Anil of the CPI, who claimed that Suresh belonged to the OBC Cheramar Christian community and not the Cheramar Hindu community that falls under the Scheduled Caste category, and thus he was ineligible to contest the election from the SC-reserved Mavelikkara seat.
Suresh moved the Supreme Court, which set aside the High Court’s order and observed that he was eligible to contest the Mavelikkara Lok Sabha seat. He has six criminal cases pertaining to rioting, unlawful assembly, and obstructing a public servant from discharging duty registered against him, as per the IE report.