Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi congratulated newly elected Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday, emphasizing the Speaker's role in upholding the Constitution and allowing the opposition a voice.
“Congratulate you on behalf of the entire opposition and the INDIA alliance. By allowing the opposition to speak, you will do your duty of defending the Constitution of India,” Gandhi, who was appointed as the Leader of the Opposition on Tuesday, said.
Acknowledging the significance of opposition representation, Gandhi added, “Government may have political power, but opposition also represents the voice of the people.”
Om Birla, the NDA nominee, was elected as the Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday, June 26, through a motion moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was adopted via voice votes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated Om Birla and expressed confidence in his ability to guide parliamentarians and meet public expectations.
In a moment of bipartisanship, Modi, Gandhi, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju escorted Birla to the Speaker's chair after his election.
The House elected Birla with a voice vote after opposition parties fielded Congress member K Suresh as their choice for the post. Pro-tem speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab declared Om Birla the Speaker of the lower house, and the INDIA bloc did not press for a division vote.
With 293 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the NDA showcased its majority to ensure Om Birla's return to the position he held in the 17th Lok Sabha.
The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha commenced on June 24 and is scheduled to conclude on July 3.
Om Birla was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha after he won from Kota in Rajasthan. He was also a member of the Standing Committee on Energy in Parliament and the Committee on Petitions and Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
He was elected again to the 17th Lok Sabha after winning the 2019 general elections from Kota and served as Speaker of the lower House of Parliament.
He returned to Lok Sabha for the third time from Kota. Om is the first person to get the post for the second term in 25 years.
Traditionally, the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker were elected through consensus between the ruling party and the Opposition. But the stand-off began after NDA refused to allot the Deputy Speaker position to an INDIA bloc candidate in return for backing Birla.
Lok Sabha Speakers have only been selected by election twice before in the Parliament—in 1952 when Congress' GV Malvankar contested against CPI's Shankar Shantaram More and in 1976 when Congress' BR Bhagat contested against Jan Sangh's Jagannathrao Joshi.
(With inputs from Agencies)
