Rare showdown for Speaker as NDA picks Om Birla again

India is set to witness the first election for the Lok Sabha speaker’s position in nearly half a century after talks between the government and Opposition broke down on Tuesday over the deputy speaker’s post, setting the stage for the first major showdown in the 18th Lok Sabha.

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) picked 17th Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla who will likely become only the fourth man to get a second term helming the Lower House. The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) fielded its most-experienced lawmaker, Kodikunnil Suresh, who filed his nomination just minutes before the 12pm deadline.

The INDIA bloc said it was ready to support Birla and wanted the deputy speaker’s post as per parliamentary convention, but the BJP leadership remained non-committal, forcing the 236 member-strong Opposition delegation to fight for the top post of the Lok Sabha as a form of protest.

“The entire Opposition said we would support the speaker, but the convention is that the deputy speaker post should be given to the Opposition,” said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

The NDA hit back, accusing the Opposition of putting pre-conditions. “The speaker does not belong to any one party...but is chosen unanimously for running the House. It is sad that the Congress has nominated its candidate for the Speaker’s post,” parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said.

As the numbers stand, the BJP-led NDA, backed by key allies such as the Telugu Desam Party and Janata Dal United, has 293 votes in the 543-member House, and is likely to be backed by others such as the YSR Congress Party. The INDIA bloc has 236 members and might get the support of some smaller outfits and independents.

Major parties have issued three-line whips for the speaker’s election on Wednesday at 11am. If the numbers hold, Birla is set to be the only speaker after Balram Jakhar in 1985 to get two full terms.

The second day of the 18th Lok Sabha began on a dramatic note.

On Thursday evening, defence minister Rajnath Singh called Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to build consensus on Birla’s candidature. Kharge, according to Congress leaders, told Singh that the Opposition will support Birla if the deputy speaker’s post is given to a member from the Opposition.

However, as BJP leaders claimed Singh was in touch with Kharge, Rahul Gandhi announced at 11.25am that the Opposition didn’t receive any confirmation of their demand. At 11.30am, with just half an hour left for the nominations to close, Congress leader KC Venugopal and DMK’s TR Baalu met Union home minister Amit Shah.

According to Suresh, “Shah told our leaders to support the speaker and sign the nomination paper, and that we’ll discuss the deputy speaker post after the election. This was not accepted.”

At 11.40am, Venugopal asked Suresh to file his nomination. “I rushed to the Lok Sabha to get signatures of the INDIA bloc leaders,” Suresh said.

He got signatures from the NCP (SP), Samajwadi Party and DMK, but Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay maintained that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee would have to be asked. Finally, three sets of nomination forms were filed for Suresh, as against more than 12 seats for Birla.

The government returned the fire, it said conditions cannot be imposed for the selection of the custodian of the House. In the last Lok Sabha, the deputy speaker’s position was vacant.

Rijiju criticised the Congress for nominating Suresh. “We have been speaking to the floor leaders of the opposition parties since yesterday. Till date there has not been an election for the Speaker’s post,” he said.

Responding to the Opposition’s allegation that the government dithered on agreeing to their demand for the deputy speaker’s post, Rijiju said, “When Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and other NDA leaders were present for the discussion on the speaker’s post, Congress leaders put a condition that they will support the speaker, if they get the deputy speaker’s post... this cannot be done. Both have a separate electoral procedure and cannot be linked.”

Elections for the speaker’s post have been held thrice before — the first time in 1952, when there was a contest between GV Mavalankar and Shankar Shantaram, then in 1967 between Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy and Opposition candidates Shankar Shantaram More, Tenniti Vishwanathan, Jagannatharao Joshi, and then in 1976, during the Emergency between Baligram Bhagat and Jagannath Rao. In all three cases, the ruling party’s nominees, Mavalankar, Bhagat and Reddy, emerged victorious.

NDA constituents such as the TDP and the JD(U) also criticised the Congress and other Opposition parties for not lending unconditional support for the speaker’s election. “The government reached out to the opposition for building consensus, but it seems they want to politicise the issue,” said TDP leader and Union minister Ram Mohan Naidu.

The Opposition said Kharge had clearly told Rajnath Singh that Opposition support in the speaker’s election hinged on getting the deputy speaker’s spot .

“Rajnath Singh said that he would call back Mallikarjun Kharge but he has not done that yet... PM Modi is asking for cooperation from the Opposition, but our leader is getting insulted...,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in the afternoon.

There was some initial discomfiture within the Opposition on the nomination of Suresh, when the Trinamool Congress pointed out that it had not been consulted by the Congress ahead of announcing the name. According to people aware of the details, Rahul Gandhi then spoke to TMC leader Abhishek Bannerjee to build consensus and iron out differences.

Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav also concurred with the Congress on the deputy speaker’s post being given to the Opposition. “The demand of the Opposition was that the deputy speaker should be of the Opposition... Our party’s opinion is also the same,” he said.

Suresh said the government was dispensing with conventions. “Earlier everybody unanimously agreed on the speaker’s name. Now the government appears adamant... they don’t want to support the opposition and cooperate. First, they denied the pro-tem Speaker’s post (to the opposition) and now they are not giving the deputy speaker’s post,” he said.

The government chose BJP member Bhartruhari Mahtab as the pro-tem speaker, which was challenged by the Opposition that backed Suresh, an eight-term MP. The government later argued that it chose Mahtab since he had seven consecutive terms, a requisite as per convention.

Shiv Sena (UBT) lawmaker Arvind Sawant also criticised the government for overlooking the Opposition’s demand. He said in 2014, when the BJP’s Sumitra Mahajan was elected as speaker, AIADMK’s M Thambi Durai was the deputy speaker. “This was the convention and the tradition... but in the last term the government was high-handed and there was no deputy speaker. This time the Opposition is powerful and when they asked for our support for the speaker, we said we will give, but give us the deputy speaker’s post. To that the government said it will be discussed subsequently...,” he said.

Birla, who is a lawmaker from Kota in Rajasthan, was unanimously elected as Lok Sabha Speaker in 2019. Prior to this, three speakers of the Lok Sabha have had more than one term. MA Iyengar held the post for 6 years and 22 days, Gurdial Singh Dhillon for 6 years and 110 days, and Balram Jakhar, who was elected to the position for two consecutive terms, was in the chair for 9 years and 329 days.