Jaipur : Om Birla, who was the speaker in the last Lok Sabha, may be re-nominated by the NDA for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker. Sources gave this information on Tuesday. However, there is no statement yet on whether Birla will be the official candidate. The NDA has 293 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha while the opposition party India Block has 234 MPs. Some independent MPs have announced their support to the Congress, but the ruling coalition has a clear majority in the House. The election for the post of Speaker is to be held on Wednesday. Birla is currently a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Kota, Rajasthan.
Several Opposition leaders said they would decide on whether their alliance would name its candidate for the Speaker’s post and contest the election depending on the NDA’s stand. On a day when Opposition leaders refused to be part of the panel to assist the pro tem Speaker, an RSP MP, a member of the India Bloc, said the practice was that the government held discussions with parties to arrive at a consensus on the Speaker’s candidate. The Opposition had distanced itself from the committee that chose seven-time BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahatav as Lok Sabha’s pro tem Speaker in place of eight-time MP K Suresh of the Congress.
