Om Birla elected as the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha

Guwahati: National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Om Birla has been re-elected as the Speaker of the lower house of Parliament by a voice vote on Wednesday.

The newly elected speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha was expected to retain the position as the numbers were in favour of the ruling coalition.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi moved the motion for the election of Birla as the Speaker.

The motion was supported by senior BJP leaders and its allies such as TDP, JDU, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Chirag Paswan’s LJP.

Birla, who had already served as the speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha, was accompanied to the chair by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, LoP Rahul Gandhi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.

After Birla was re-elected as the Speaker, PM Modi congratulated him and said he looked forward to the Speaker’s guidance for the upcoming five years.

“Your sweet smile keeps the entire House happy…The previous Lok Sabha passed several path-breaking legislations under your leadership,” PM Modi told Birla while addressing the Lok Sabha.

Here it should be mentioned that the election for the post of Lok Sabha speaker was held in the Parliament for the first time in decades as the BJP-led NDA government and the Congress-led INDIA opposition bloc failed to reach a consensus.

Traditionally, the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are elected through a consensus between the ruling party and the opposition.

The NDA fielded Om Birla, a three-time MP from Kota, Rajasthan while the Congress nominated Kodikunnil Suresh, an eight-term parliamentarian from Mavelikara, Kerala for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.

K. Suresh holds the distinction of being the longest-serving parliamentarian in the 18th Lok Sabha.

On the other hand, Birla’s political innings took off in 1987 when he became the district president of the BJP’s youth wing in Rajasthan's Kota.

Birla won the Kota assembly seat for the first time in 2003 and was confined to state politics until 2014 when he won his first Lok Sabha election from Kota-Bundi Lok Sabha.