• Source:JND
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Lok Sabha will witness its first-ever election to elect the Speaker of the House on June 26 as the Treasury bench and Opposition have fielded their candidates for the post. Former Lok Sabha Speaker and BJP MP Om Birla filed his nomination on Tuesday while the INDIA bloc fielded senior Congress MP K Suresh for the Speaker post. Earlier, all Lok Sabha Speakers were elected unanimously. 

In previous sessions, all 17 Lok Sabha Speakers have been elected unanimously with the consensus of various political parties. The decision for the first-ever election arose after the INDIA bloc requested the Deputy Speaker's post, a request the ruling NDA denied. The Congress had stated it would not contest the Speaker’s post if the Treasury bench allotted the Deputy Speaker position to the opposition.

Senior BJP leaders, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, engaged with Opposition leaders to build a consensus. Talks were held with top leaders from the Opposition, including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader MK Stalin and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee. 

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Discussions also took place with key NDA allies, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal-United (JDU), before a final decision was reached.

The Deputy Speaker post has traditionally been given to the Opposition. However, in 2014, the BJP appointed its ally AIADMK's M Thambi Durai as Deputy Speaker. Since 2019, the post has remained vacant.

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Congress MP Rahul Gandhi criticised the handling of the situation, stating, ''It was written in the newspaper that PM Modi has said the Opposition should cooperate with the Government constructively. Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge to extend support to the Speaker. The entire Opposition said we would support the Speaker if the Deputy Speaker post was given to the Opposition. Rajnath Singh said he would call back Kharge but has not done so yet. PM Modi is asking for cooperation, but our leader is getting insulted.''

The deadline for filing nominations for the Speaker's post was noon on Tuesday and the election is set to take place tomorrow.