New Delhi: NDA nominee Om Birla was re-elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha by voice vote Wednesday. He defeated the Congress’s Kodikunnil Suresh, fielded as the Opposition’s candidate, in what was the fourth instance of an election for the post since Independence.
The motion to appoint Birla, moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was adopted through voice vote with the Opposition not pressing for division of votes, but making it a point to register their dissent over the government’s non-committal approach to their demand for the deputy Speaker’s post.
The rare event of an election for the Speaker’s post was necessitated due to a lack of agreement between the treasury and the opposition benches, which insisted that there could be a consensus only if the government was ready to give the deputy Speaker’s post to the Opposition following the parliamentary “convention”.
Newly-appointed Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi escorted Birla to the Speaker’s chair along with the PM. A smiling Modi shook hands with Gandhi, who later made a short speech congratulating Birla.
“The idea that you can run the House efficiently by silencing the voice of the Opposition is a non-democratic idea and this election has shown that the people of India expect the Opposition to defend the Constitution, and we are confident that by allowing the Opposition to speak, by allowing us to represent the people of India, you will do your duty of defending the Constitution of India,” Gandhi said.
But the spirit of cordiality melted away by the time the proceedings of the day were adjourned as Birla made a speech on the Emergency, drawing uproar from the opposition benches.
Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the INDIA bloc did not insist on division of votes for the spirit of consensus and cooperation to prevail, “a spirit singularly lacking in the actions of the PM and the NDA”.
Earlier, in his speech felicitating Birla, Modi described the 17th Lok Sabha as a “golden period” in India’s parliamentary history. “The historic decisions taken with you as the chair, the reforms under your watch, these shall be your legacy with that of the House. In the future, when the 17th Lok Sabha will be analysed, and written about, it will be known for its major role in providing India’s future a new direction,” Modi said.
Birla is the second Speaker to be re-elected to the post after the Congress’s Balram Jakhar in 1985.
Modi also praised Birla’s role as a presiding officer in the previous Lok Sabha, saying its “productivity was 97 per cent, the highest in the last 25 years”. Anticipating that the Opposition would touch on the mass suspension of MPs in the last Lok Sabha, Modi said Birla deserved admiration for privileging “the decorum of the House over personal agony”.
“You made some tough decisions too. I know such decisions also cause you pain. But between the decorum of the House and personal agony, you placed decorum of the House first and sought to uphold the best traditions of the House. You deserve praise for such acts of courage,” the PM said.
Elections for the Speaker’s post have been held only thrice before in independent India, in 1952, 1967 and 1976. In 1952, G.V. Mavalankar of the Congress became the Speaker, defeating Shankar Shantaram More of the Peasants and Workers Party of India. Mavalankar won comfortably owing to the majority of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.
In 1967, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy of the Congress was, in the fourth Lok Sabha, pitted against Tenneti Viswanathan, whose candidature was supported by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, an MP at the time. Reddy was elected as Speaker, with 278 votes, while Viswanathan got 207.
In 1976, the Congress’s Baliram Bhagat defeated the Jana Sangh’s (later BJP) Jagannathrao Joshi. The deputy Speaker, by convention, has been an Opposition face.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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