Om Birla vs K Suresh: How Numbers Stack up in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: After a furious fight in recently-concluded parliamentary elections, BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and INDI alliance are again at loggerhes over position of Lok Sabha speaker. In an attempt to build consensus over speaker nomine, ruling-Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to Opposition bloc. However, Opposition demanded post of Deputy Speaker in lieu of supporting NDA candidate, a demand refused by ruling alliance.

Following this, NDA maintained its streak of continuity in its third term and fielded previous Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for crucial parliamentary position again, but its bid for a consensus was thwarted by opposition which forced an election by nominating Kodikunnil Suresh as its candidate. 

All Eyes on Lok Sabha 

All eyes are on Lok Sabha as for first time in deces, an election for Lok Sabha Speaker’s post will take place on Wednesday due to inability of BJP's ruling NDA government and Congress-led INDI to reach to a consensus. Tritionally, both speakers and deputy speakers were elected through consensus. Prior to this, election for Lok Sabha Speaker has happened only three times in past history; 1952, 1967 and 1976.

Both ruling BJP and main opposition Congress Party have issued three-line whips to ir members, mandating ir presence in Lok Sabha on Wednesday from 11 am until end of proceedings.

How Numbers Stack Up in Lok Sabha

In recently-concluded parliamentary elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a third consecutive term by winning 293 seats, while Opposition - INDI bloc - won 233 seats.

Two parties - YSR Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal - are likely to support NDA candidate in speaker election, taking NDA's number to 298. Furr, newly-elected Lakh MP Mohm Haneef has extended support to INDI bloc after speaking to leers of National Conference. 

numbers clearly seem to be favouring Birla in Lok Sabha, which currently has 542 members after Rahul Gandhi resigned from Wayan- one of two seats he was elected from. At least three independent members also support opposition, while 4 have extended support to BJP-led NDA, said sources.

How a Lok Sabha Speaker is Elected?

As Lok Sabha session begins after a general election, a pro-tem speaker is appointed who ministers oath to newly-elected MPs in first two days of session. On third day, a speaker is elected.

first session of 18th Lok Sabha began on Monday, and pro-tem speaker ministered oath to newly-elected MPs on June 24 and 25. deline for nominating speaker candidates was June 25 and elections are all set to take place on Wednesday, June 26.

speaker will be elected by a simple majority. Thus, candidate who gets more than half votes from members present in lower house, becomes speaker. speaker, despite being an MP from ruling party, is expected to be bipartisan. re have been instances when speakers like Sanjiva Reddy have resigned from parties y belonged to in order to uphold ir integrity.

If a division of votes takes place in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, n paper slips will be used as electronic system is not operational yet in new Lok Sabha where members are still in process of being allocated ir seats.

Why This Speaker Election is Significant

This time, Congress seems to be main aggressor among INDI bloc parties. In last two elections, it was a cake walk for BJP as it h an absolute majority in lower house. However, this time opposition is stronger than last two terms and BJP depends on two of its allies - Telugu Desam Party and Janata Dal United.   BJP secured 240 seats in recently-concluded general elections, falling 32 short of majority.