Om Birla, Kota MP unanimously elected as Speaker of 17th Lok Sabha

Kota MP Om Birla on Wednesday was unanimously  elected as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  Om Birla is two-time MP from Rajasthan’s Kota, he was elected after Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed his name on Day 3 of Lok Sabha session.

Birla, won his first Lok Sabha election in 2014 and was again elected this year from Rajasthan’s Kota-Bundi seat.

The opposition parties also decided to support Birla, with the NDA having a clear majority of at least 387 out of the 542 MPs in the lower house of Parliament.

PM Narendra Modi praised Kota MP Om Birla for his service for the people of Rajasthan as well as in other parts of the country, including during the 2011 earthquake in Gujarat and the 2013 floods in Uttarakhand.

“I on behalf of the government and the treasury benches assure you full support in conducting the House. I also assure you that your order will prevail and you must be tough even if anyone from our side (treasury benches) crosses the limit,” congratulated PM Narendra Modi.

A total of 13 motions were moved in support of Om Birla as the Speaker. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, DMK’s TR Baalu and TMC’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay were among those who backed Birla and urged him to be impartial as presiding officer of the lower house.

Birla accepted the greetings of the MPs with a smile and thanked all of them for their words.

“The members should remain assured that he will try his best to remain fair and unbiased as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. He said he will strive to provide equal opportunities to each and every member irrespective of their political affiliation or size of their respective parties”, said Om Birla.