Lok Sabha Speaker election: Om Birla vs K Suresh today amid TMC suspense | 10 points

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) picked 17th Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla who will likely become only the fourth man to get a second term helming the Lower House.

Breaking a decades-old convention, BJP MP Om Birla and Congress lawmaker K Suresh on Tuesday filed nominations for the Speaker's election after the Opposition refused to back down over its demand for the Deputy Speaker's post.

Buoyed by the Lok Sabha election results, the assertive INDIA bloc put a pre-condition for supporting the NDA candidate that the Opposition must get the Deputy Speaker post. However, the BJP vowed to not bow down before the Opposition's "pressure" politics and chose to face a rare election.

The lack of consensus on the first issue that cropped up before the 18th Lok Sabha, indicates the resurgent Opposition's intention to send out a strong message to the government that it would not be pushed around on important matters.

Here are 10 points on the Speaker's election:

1. On Monday, KC Venugopal and DMK's TR Baalu met Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and JP Nadda at the defence minister's office in Parliament. The INDIA bloc leaders, however, walked out saying the government didn't want to follow the convention of supporting an Opposition candidate for the Deputy Speaker's position. They later broke convention and announced K Suresh's candidature for the Speaker's chair.
2. Union ministers Piyush Goyal of the BJP and Lalan Singh of the JD(U) accused the Opposition of resorting to pressure politics and putting forth preconditions despite senior ministers' assurance that its demand will be considered. "There can be no pressure politics," Lalan Singh told reporters.
3. It is likely that Om Birla may win the polls because the National Democratic Alliance has 293 members in the Lower House of the Parliament. The INDIA bloc has 233 members. The Opposition's alliance had won 234 seats but Rahul Gandhi relinquished the Wayanad seat. According to PTI, three independent members of the Lok Sabha will likely support the Opposition.
4. Per the BJP sources, reported PTI, the Congress has been the main aggressor on the issue and some other INDIA bloc members were not very keen on a contest. Meanwhile, YSRCP may support the NDA candidate.
5. Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has expressed disappointment over the Congress's decision to nominate K Suresh for the post of Lok Sabha speaker, saying they were not consulted. TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee said the candidature of K Suresh was a unilateral decision. "We were not contacted about this, there was no discussion. Unfortunately, this is a unilateral decision," he said. The TMC will clear its stand before the election today.
6. The INDIA bloc held a meeting of its floor leaders at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's house in Delhi to chalk out the strategy for the election. Congress MPs Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, president of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, Hanuman Beniwal along with two TMC leaders -- Kalyan Banerjee and Derek O'Brien-- and other leaders of the INDIA bloc were present in the meeting.
7. INDIA bloc candidate K Suresh is currently the longest-serving Lok Sabha MP, as he has remained MP for 29 years. He is the working president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and was the chief whip of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the 17th Lok Sabha.
8. If Birla, the BJP MP from Kota, is elected, it will be the fifth time that a Speaker would serve beyond the tenure of one Lok Sabha. Though Congress leader Balram Jakhar is the only presiding officer to have served two complete terms extending seventh and eighth Lok Sabha. A third-term MP, Birla is also a three-term former Rajasthan MLA and has risen through the ranks in the BJP.
9. K Suresh said the government didn't reply to the Opposition's request till 11.50. "Last two Lok Sabhas, they denied us deputy speaker's post because they said you are not recognised as the opposition. Now we are recognised as the opposition, (and) deputy speaker post is our right. But they are not ready to give us. Till 11.50, we were waiting for a reply from the government's side but they did not give any reply," he told reporters.Traditionally, the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker have been elected by consensus between the ruling party and the Opposition. However, the election for the post of Speaker has taken place at least twice in India's parliamentary history. The first instance was in 1952 when Congress' GV Malvankar contested against CPI's candidate Shankar Shantaram More. The second instance was in 1976 when Congress' BR Bhagat contested against Jagannathrao Joshi from Jan Sangh and was supported by Congress O.

With inputs from PTI, ANI

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