Om Birla vs K Suresh: How is the Speaker of the Lok Sabha elected?

Today (26 June) is a crucial day for the 18th Lok Sabha. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the INDI Alliance are going up against each other in a battle for the Speaker’s post — many call it one of the most important positions in a parliamentary democracy.

The election for the Speaker will be held today and will see a battle between the NDA’s pick of Om Birla, who has served as Speaker previously, and INDI Alliance’s Kodikunnil Suresh, an eight-term MP from Kerala’s Mavelikara.

Notably, this is the first election for the Speaker; the last ever such election was held decades ago.

But if you are still wondering how a Speaker is chosen, we have you covered.

How is the Speaker elected?

The Speaker is elected from among the members of the lower house of the Parliament. Rules regarding the election of the Speaker is governed by Article 93 of the Constitution. It states: “The House of the People shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the House to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof and, so often as the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, the House shall choose another member to be Speaker or Deputy Speaker, as the case may be.”

On the day of the election — this time it’s on 26 June — the MPs will cast their votes in a secret ballot and the candidate who secures the majority of votes becomes the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. There are no other criteria listed for the position. However, seniority, experience and impartiality are considered when choosing a candidate for the position.

Historically, most candidates for the Speaker are elected without any contest. In the 16th and 17 Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan and Om Birla — both BJP MPs — were elected as Speakers of the Lok Sabha without any opposition.

The Speaker holds the position until the House is dissolved or he/she resigns or is removed from office by a resolution passed by a majority of all the members of the Lok Sabha.

Why is there an election for Speaker this time then?

While in the past, the Speaker’s position has been decided unanimously without an election, it’s not to be this time around. While the NDA has put forth Om Birla’s name, the opposition has put forth K Suresh’s name from the Congress.

The reason for this is, as K Suresh explains, is that conventionally the Speaker is of the ruling party and the Deputy Speaker is of the opposition. Speaking to news agency PTI, he said: “Last two Lok Sabhas, they denied us Deputy Speaker’s post because they said you are not recognised as the opposition. Now we are recognised as the opposition, deputy speaker post is our right. But they are not ready to give us.”

Reports have stated that the opposition has been combative on the issue, since its strength has increased in the House and are insisting that the government give a commitment on giving the post of Deputy Speaker to the opposition.

In fact, reports state that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reached out to Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge for the party’s support to Birla. However, the Congress has remained adamant that it wants the Deputy Speaker’s post.

Earlier too, Rahul Gandhi had said that the opposition was willing to support the NDA’s choice for the position of Speaker if the government followed convention and gave them the Deputy Speaker’s post.

However, BJP’s Piyush Goyal was quoted as saying: “The Speaker does not belong to any party or opposition; he belongs to the entire House. Similarly, the Deputy Speaker also does not belong to any party or group; he belongs to the entire House and hence there should be consent of the House. Such conditions that only a particular person or from a particular party should be the Deputy Speaker, do not fit into any tradition of the Lok Sabha.”

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also said: “We had a conversation with all the floor leaders of the opposition regarding the post of the Speaker. The Speaker is not for a party; it is for the functioning of the House. The Speaker is elected unanimously. It is disheartening that Congress has nominated its candidate for the Speaker. No election has ever taken place for the post of the Speaker. Congress put this condition that if they get the post of Deputy Speaker they will support our candidate for the Speaker’s post. This give and take of posts of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker is not right.”

Responding to the BJP’s claims, Congress’s KC Venugopal, as per an Indian Express report, said that during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, they had given the Deputy Speaker position to the NDA for 10 years. “When UPA was in power, we gave the Deputy Speaker to the NDA for 10 years. The convention is so in the Lok Sabha that the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha is given to the opposition. Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge yesterday. Mallikarjun Kharge said we are happy to support your candidate but we want the post of Deputy Speaker to which Rajnath Singh told him that we will consult PM Modi and revert,” he said.

When was the last time Speaker election was contested?

A contest between Om Birla and K Suresh for the Speaker’s post won’t be the first such instance. The last such election was in 1976, as per the Lok Sabha Secretariat. Bali Ram Bhagat was elected the Speaker of the Fifth Lok Sabha in January 1976 after securing 344 votes vs Jagannath Rao who got 58.

Prior to that, in 1952, GV Mavalankar of the Congress became the Speaker, defeating Shankar Shantaram More of the Peasants and Workers Party of India. Mavalankar won comfortably owing to the Congress’s majority in the Lok Sabha.

Pre-Independence, the election for the post of Speaker took place six times between 1925 and 1946. In 1925, elections for the Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly were won by Swaraj Party leader Vitthalbhai J Patel against T Rangachariar.

In 1930, Sir Muhammad Yakub won the Speaker’s election with 78 votes against Nand Lal’s 22 votes on July 9, 1930. Three years later, Sir Ibrahim Rahimtoola won the election against Hari Singh Gour.

Then in 1935, Sir Abdur Rahim was elected as the Speaker against TAK Sherwani. And in 1946, Congress leader GV Mavalankar won against Cowasjee Jehangir by a margin of just three votes.

With inputs from agencies