The first Parliament session of 18th Lok Sabha will begin on June 24, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju announced on Wednesday. The Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will pick a Lok Sabha speaker during the special Parliament session starting June 24 and ending July 3.
The first three days of the session will see the newly elected leaders taking oath or making affirmation of their membership of the Lok Sabha and electing the Speaker of the House.
President Droupadi Murmu will address a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on June 27 and is likely to outline the new government's roadmap for the next five years.
"First Session of 18th Lok Sabha is being summoned from 24.6.24 to 3.7.24 for oath/affirmation of newly elected Members, Election of Speaker, President’s Address and discussion thereon. 264th Session of Rajya Sabha will commence on 27.6.24 and conclude on 3.7.24," Kiren Rijiju said in a post on X on Wednesday.
The NDA government, in which portfolios have been distributed to Union Ministers after they and Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath on June 9, is yet to pick a Lok Sabha speaker.
TDP, JDU Eyeing Lok Sabha Speaker Post?
N Chandrababu Naidu's TDP and Nitish Kumar's JDU, which emerged as kingmakers after the BJP failed to secure a majority in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, are reportedly eyeing the Lok Sabha speaker post.
The post of speaker of Lok Sabha is crucial, more so in recent times, given the backdrop of rebellions by politicians that have led to split in parties and toppled government over the past couple of years. In times of rebellions, the anti-defection law comes into play, and the Speaker of the House plays a crucial role. Naidu and Kumar, both Coalition-era veterans, want the Speaker's post as a shield against any such tactic, an NDTV report mentioned.
Meanwhile, with the INDIA bloc parties' numbers increasing in the 18th Lok Sabha, the lower house is set to get a leader of the opposition (LoP) after ten years, and opposition leaders are also hopinh that a deputy speaker will be elected soon, a post that had been vacant for the last five years.
