New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) candidate, Om Birla has an edge over his Congress rival, K Suresh, as the former enjoys the backing of at least 293 MPs for the Lok Sabha Speaker election.
This will be the fourth time in the history of the Lok Sabha that the Speaker is decided by way of election. Over the past few decades, there had been a convention that the Speaker would be nominated after achieving consensus in the House.
For today’s election, odds are heavily stacked against the INDIA bloc’s candidate, K Suresh.
The BJP candidate has the backing of 293 NDA MPs. Four YSRCP MPs and independents may also back Om Birla.
On the other hand, the INDIA bloc has 233 members in the Lok Sabha. At least three independents will likely vote for Suresh, taking the effective number to 236. It might also get the support of some smaller outfits and independents.
These members include Shashi Tharoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Deepak Adhikari, Nurul Islam and Afzhal Ansari.