As the 17th lower house sessions enter its second day, there are reports that BJP’ MP from Kota, Om Birla, the BJP has been nominated as the next Lok Sabha speaker. 10 parties including BJD and YSRCP have extended support to Birla’s nomination.
Sources: Om Birla, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Kota likely to be the NDA candidate for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker. pic.twitter.com/45Xg7Mrnoc
— ANI (@ANI) June 18, 2019
Om Birla is a two-time MP from Kota and a three-time MLA from the Kota South Assembly seat. In the recently concluded 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he defeated Ramnarain Meena of the Congress by a margin of around 2.79 lakh votes.
Birla would be replacing previous Lok Sabha Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, who had chosen not to contest the 2019 general elections.
Earlier, names of PP Chaudhary, the ex-Union Minister of State for the Law and Justice and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Surinderjeet Singh Ahluwalia, MP from Durgapur Lok Sabha Constituency, West Bengal, also did the rounds but the party high command went ahead with Birla.
Meanwhile, Om Birla’s wife, Amita Birla, while speaking to ANI thanked the party for the trust bestowed upon her husband. “It is a very proud and a happy moment for us. We are very thankful to the cabinet for choosing him,” she said.
Amita Birla, wife of BJP MP Om Birla, who reportedly is the NDA candidate for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker: It is a very proud and a happy moment for us. We are very thankful to the cabinet for choosing him. (In pic 2&3 : BJP MP Om Birla) pic.twitter.com/lPYB2jQEQn
— ANI (@ANI) June 18, 2019
On Monday, President Ram Nath Kovind swore in the seven-term member of Parliament Virendra Kumar as the protem speaker of Lok Sabha.
Protem Speaker Virendra Kumar had then subsequently administered the oath of office to over 300 MPs on Monday.
