In the first ever Lok Sabha Speaker election since 1952, the House on Tuesday elected BJP-led NDA candidate Om Birla with a voice vote after opposition parties fielded Congress member K Suresh for the same.
After being elected as the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha by defeating Opposition's candidate K Suresh, BJP MP Om Birla was seen being escorted to the Chair of Lok Sabha Speaker by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, LoP Rahul Gandhi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.
Congress leader K C Venugopal said that the Opposition would contest the speaker's election. Accusing the govt of being non-committal on giving the Deputy speaker's post to the Opposition, Venugopal and DMK's TR Baalu walked out of Rajnath Singh's office today.
The Congress had already made it clear that the Deputy Speaker should be from the Opposition benches. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has said that while the Oppositions wants consensus too, healthy traditions must be followed.
