EXPLAINED: Crucial Lok Sabha Speaker Election; Key Players and Potential Outcomes in a Fractured Mandate

Whenever there is a coalition of parties, the post of Speaker becomes very important. In the last two terms of the Lok Sabha, the BJP had a majority and had its will and appointed the Lok Sabha Speaker from its party.

However, the 2024 Lok Sabha elections have thrown a fractured mandate with the BJP failing to cross the majority mark and its tally falling to 240. This time the biggest NDA partners, the Janata Dal (United) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), will play a crucial part in the election of the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The newly elected Lok Sabha will elect its Speaker on June 26. The inaugural session of the Lok Sabha will convene from June 24 to July 3.

This time the clout of both Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD-U is more since the former’s party won 16 seats while the latter’s party won 12 seats.

While TDP did not clearly say that it will support the candidate that BJP proposes, it instead stated that the post will be decided jointly by the NDA partners. However, JD(U) leader KC Tyagi has indicated that the party might as well support the candidate nominated by the BJP.

Article 93 of the Constitution outlines how the Lok Sabha Speaker will be elected. The Speaker’s post of the outgoing Parliament ceases on the convening of the first day of the Lok Sabha, which is June 24.

Whenever a new Parliament session begins, the President appoints a Pro-tem Speaker, and it is his responsibility to administer the oath of office to the newly elected Members of Parliament (MPs).

The new Lok Sabha will see this phase on June 24 and 25, while the election of the Speaker will take place on June 26. The notices for motions supporting the candidates must be sent one day prior to the election.

The Speaker is elected on the basis of a simple majority of the members present in the Parliament on that day.

The Speaker’s post is of great significance since he is tasked with the smooth running of the Parliament. It is the Speaker who decides the agenda for parliamentary meetings and allows motions such as adjournments, no-confidence, etc.

His decision cannot be challenged and it is deemed that he represents both the ruling and the opposition parties and must be non-partisan.

The Speaker is usually an elected member of a particular party, and in the past, opposition parties have often accused the Speaker of being partisan. However, there are instances like the case of Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, who had resigned from Congress when he became the Speaker of the Lok Sabha in 1967.

NDA leaders have already met at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence in the national capital and discussed the election for Speaker and Deputy Speaker on June 16. There are reports that Om Birla will continue to be the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The opposition INDIA alliance is sending feelers to both Telugu Desam and JD(U) that they will support if either party puts up their candidates.

There are also reports that the NDA could select Daggubati Purandeswari, a BJP politician from Andhra Pradesh, for the post. Purandeswari is the sister of the AP CM’s wife and the daughter of the founder of the Telugu Desam Party, NT Rama Rao. She also served as the MoS in the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2009 and MoS in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 2012. She was elected from the Rajahmundry constituency in Andhra Pradesh by over 2.3 lakh votes.

The BJP could also offer the post of Deputy Speaker to the NDA allies. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a constituent of the INDIA alliance, stated that the TDP and JD(U) should decide the Lok Sabha Speaker, and it will be in the interest of the Constitution and democracy. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has also stated that if the TDP and JD(U) put up their candidate, it will support it.

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