India parliament to witness first speaker election in decades after talks fail

India's BJP MP Om Birla and Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh on Tuesday filed nominations for the Lok Sabha Speaker election after talks between the ruling National Democratic Alliance and the Opposition's INDIA bloc failed. This is the first time ever that the Lok Sabha will witness an election for the Speaker's post.

The Opposition had agreed to support the government-backed candidate, Om Birla, under the condition that the deputy Speaker must be a member of the INDIA bloc. However, apparently, the two sides couldn't reach an agreement.

This is only the third time that elections will be held for the Lok Sabha Speaker post.

As per the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the first such contest was in 1952 between GV Mavalankar and Shankar Shantaram. Mavalankar won with 394 votes whereas Shantaram got 55.

The second such fight happened in 1976 between Baliram Bhagat and Jagannath Rao. Bhagat won with 344 votes while Jagannath Rao got 58.

Earlier today, union minister and BJP leader Rajnath Singh had reached out to the Opposition. However, minutes before the deadline for the nomination, Congress KC Venugopal, DMK's TR Baalu walked out of Rajnath Singh's office and refused to endorse NDA's nominee.

KC Venugopal later said the government was non-committal on giving the deputy Speaker's post to the Opposition.

K Suresh, according to the INDIA bloc, is the senior most member of parliament. He won the Lok Sabha elections for the eighth time earlier this month.

He is a Dalit leader from Kerala. The Opposition wanted him to be the deputy Speaker.

Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the INDIA bloc would support the NDA's choice of candidate if it gave the deputy post to the Opposition.

"The prime minister said that the Opposition should cooperate with the government constructively. The Opposition has clearly stated that they will support the Speaker, however, the convention is that the Opposition should get the deputy Speaker post…Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge, seeking support for the Speaker. He is yet to return a call to Kharge ji…PM Modi is saying there should be constructive cooperation, and now our leader is being insulted," Gandhi said.

"PM Modi does not want any constructive cooperation…We have said that if the convention is followed, we will give full support in the election of the Speaker," he added.

The BJP has 240 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Its partners such as the Janata Dal (United) or JD(U), the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Shiv Sena, Lokjanshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and ten other others have 53 members, critical to the bloc's majority in the House.

On the other hand, the INDIA bloc has 234 seats, with the Congress having 99 members, a marked improvement from the previous two general elections, where the party struggled to cross 50 seats.

Going by the numbers, Om Birla is expected to be re-elected as Speaker, but political commentators say the election for the post is all about principles for the opposition parties.

"It is a battle of principles for the opposition as the Indian parliament was working on majoritarian rule. The opposition was not given the post of Deputy Speaker, which already had no leader of opposition. Moreover, the Speaker was also partisan, who suspended many MPs for raising their voices. In fact, he refused to preside over the proceedings on several occasions," said political analyst Manisha Priyam.

The Deputy's chair is traditionally reserved for an opposition MP to ensure a balanced House, but it remained vacant during the second term of the Modi government.

During Narendra Modi's first tenure as Prime Minister, it was assigned to BJP's ally AIADMK.

She said the opposition definitely doesn't have numbers, but it is conveying a message that the ruling government is not accommodative.

"PM Modi had recently given a statement that consensus is important and everyone will be taken along for country's welfare, but the government did not give up the Deputy Speaker's post when opposition had agreed for Om Birla as Speaker. The opposition wants to show that it tried, but government did not consider their requests," Priyam added. 

The situation will affect the BJP politically and it also shows that the upcoming budget session will be stormy. Opposition has received a strong public support in the recently concluded general election, said Manisha Priyam.

Another political commentator, Rasheed Kidwai said the ruling NDA doesn't want to cede any space to the opposition and continue with its supremacy at the Centre.

"Both the NDA and INDIA bloc are still in election mode, BJP wants to show its supreme even if its not in power with absolute majority, while the Congress wants to put it clear that ruling party is anti-Dalit and didn't support Congress's K Suresh as Deputy Speaker."

In response to opposition's decision to field its candidate for the Speaker's post, BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal said, "The NDA alliance has always believed that the Speaker should be elected with consensus from all parties. We urge opposition parties to unanimously elect the Speaker. The election for the Speaker's post should not be subjected to terms and conditions. The Lok Sabha Speaker does not belong to any specific party."