PM Modi to move motion in Lok Sabha today to choose Om Birla as Speaker of the house

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will move the motion today in the Lok Sabha to choose Om Birla as the Speaker of the lower house amid a tussle for the post with the opposition's INDIA bloc.

In today's list of business, the remaining MPs who have not already taken the oath or made the affirmation to do so will sign the roll of members. 

Then, in what promises to be a stormy session, PM Modi will bring the motion that Om Birla, a member of the Lok Sabha, be chosen as the Speaker of the House. Rajnath Singh will second the motion.

Thereafter, Union Ministers like Lallan Singh, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Amit Shah, Chirag Paswan, HD Kumaraswamy, and Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu will also move the motion to choose Birla as the Speaker.

As the opposition has also fielded K Suresh as its candidate against Birla, the election for the same will take place in the Lok Sabha when it resumes today.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Ganpat Sawant, Samajwadi Party MP Anand Bhadauria, and NCP (SCP) MP Supriya Sule will move the motion that K Suresh be chosen as the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha.

At last, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will introduce the ministers and ministers of state who have recently been inducted into the council of ministers. Traditionally, the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker were elected through consensus between the ruling party and the opposition.

The contest will witness the BJP's Om Birla, a three-time MP from Kota in Rajasthan, up against the Congress' Kodikunnil Suresh, an eight-term parliamentarian from Kerala's Mavelikara.

Suresh is the longest-serving parliamentarian in the 18th Lok Sabha. Both the ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress Party have issued three-line whips to their members, mandating their presence in the Lok Sabha today from 11 am until the end of the proceedings.

The INDIA bloc is unlikely to push for a division of votes and only insist on a voice vote to make its point. Earlier, former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha PD Thankappan Achary said that elections for the key post have taken place earlier, though on rare occasions.

"Election has always taken place, election has to take place, but the contest has happened rarely. But it has happened," Achary said, speaking to ANI on Tuesday. The NDA, which commands 293 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha, holds a clear majority, while the opposition INDIA bloc comprises 234 MPs.