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The YSR Congress Party, led by former Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is set to support Kota MP Om Birla in the Lok Sabha speaker post election taking place on June 26. The Lok Sabha will witness a rare election for the Speaker’s post \u2013 the first since 1976 \u2013 as Congress member Kodikunnil Suresh has been made the opposition candidate against NDA nominee Om Birla.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
With the YSRCP support, Om Birla now has the support of 4 more Lok Sabha members, reports NDTV.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh failed to give an assurance on the opposition party\u2019s claim to the Deputy Speaker’s post.<\/p>\n
In the Lok Sabha, the Speaker is elected through a simple majority vote. This means that more than half of the 543 members present in the house must vote in favor of a candidate for them to be elected as the Speaker of Lok Sabha.<\/p>\n
In the 543-member Lok Sabha, the NDA commands a decisive majority with 293 MPs, while the Opposition bloc is represented by 234 legislators in the lower House of Parliament.<\/p>\n
With numbers in favour of the NDA, Om Birla is set to become the Lok Sabha Speaker for a second term. Om Birla was first elected to Lok Sabha in 2014. He was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha when he returned as an MP from Kota.<\/p>\n
While elections to the Speaker’s post were common before Independence, the position of the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha has witnessed contests only thrice in Independent India \u2013 in 1952, 1967 and 1976.<\/p>\n
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