Om Birla vs K Suresh: How Numbers Stack up in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: After a furious fight in the recently-concluded parliamentary elections, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and the INDI alliance are again at loggerheads over the position of Lok Sabha speaker. In an attempt to build consensus over the speaker nomine, the ruling-Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to the Opposition bloc. However, the Opposition demanded the post of Deputy Speaker in lieu of supporting NDA candidate, a demand refused by the ruling alliance.

Following this, the NDA maintained its streak of continuity in its third term and fielded previous Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for the crucial parliamentary position again, but its bid for a consensus was thwarted by the opposition which forced an election by nominating Kodikunnil Suresh as its candidate. 

All Eyes on Lok Sabha 

All eyes are on the Lok Sabha as the for the first time in decades, an election for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post will take place on Wednesday due to the inability of the BJP's ruling NDA government and the Congress-led INDI to reach to a consensus. Traditionally, both speakers and deputy speakers were elected through consensus. Prior to this, the election for Lok Sabha Speaker has happened only three times in the past history; 1952, 1967 and 1976.

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 on Wednesday from 11 am until the end of the proceedings.

How Numbers Stack Up in Lok Sabha

In the recently-concluded parliamentary elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a third consecutive term by winning 293 seats, while the Opposition - INDI bloc - won 233 seats.

Two parties - YSR Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal - are likely to support the NDA candidate in the speaker election, taking NDA's number to 298. Further, newly-elected Ladakh MP Mohmad Haneef has extended support to INDI bloc after speaking to the leaders of National Conference. 

The numbers clearly seem to be favouring Birla in Lok Sabha, which currently has 542 members after Rahul Gandhi resigned from Wayanad- one of the two seats he was elected from. At least three independent members also support the opposition, while 4 have extended support to the BJP-led NDA, said sources.

How a Lok Sabha Speaker is Elected?

As the Lok Sabha session begins after a general election, a pro-tem speaker is appointed who administers oath to the newly-elected MPs in the first two days of the session. On the third day, a speaker is elected.

The first session of 18th Lok Sabha began on Monday, and the pro-tem speaker administered oath to newly-elected MPs on June 24 and 25. The deadline for nominating speaker candidates was June 25 and the elections are all set to take place on Wednesday, June 26.

The speaker will be elected by a simple majority. Thus, the candidate who gets more than half the votes from members present in the lower house, becomes the speaker. The speaker, despite being an MP from the ruling party, is expected to be bipartisan. There have been instances when speakers like Sanjiva Reddy have resigned from the parties they belonged to in order to uphold their integrity.

If a division of votes takes place in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, then paper slips will be used as the electronic system is not operational yet in the new Lok Sabha where members are still in the process of being allocated their seats.

Why This Speaker Election is Significant

This time, the Congress seems to be main aggressor among the INDI bloc parties. In the last two elections, it was a cake walk for the BJP as it had an absolute majority in the lower house. However, this time the opposition is stronger than the last two terms and the BJP depends on two of its allies - Telugu Desam Party and Janata Dal United.  The BJP secured 240 seats in the recently-concluded general elections, falling 32 short of majority.