Bharatiya Janata Party MP Om Birla was on Wednesday elected as the speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha after a voice vote.

The Opposition MPs did not ask for a division of votes as part of the election process.

While the ruling National Democratic Alliance nominated Birla for the post, the Opposition INDIA bloc had fielded Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh on Tuesday. This forced an election for the speaker’s position for the first time in several decades.

An election for the speaker’s post takes place only if the House does not elect a candidate unanimously.

Birla, the MP from Rajasthan’s Kota constituency, was the speaker during the 17th Lok Sabha between 2019 and 2024. Suresh is the MP from Kerala’s Mavelikara.

Several Opposition leaders congratulated Birla on his election to the post but demanded that they be allowed to speak in the Lower House.

“The question is not how efficiently the House is run,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, reported NDTV. “The question is how much of India’s voice is being allowed to be heard. The idea that you can run the House efficiently by silencing the voice of the Opposition is a non-democratic idea.”

The newly-appointed Leader of the Opposition emphasised that the results of the recently-concluded Lok Sabha election had demonstrated that the citizens of India expect the Opposition to defend the Constitution.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also congratulated Birla and said that “impartiality is a great responsibility of this great position”, Mint reported.

Yadav said: “We expect that no public representative’s voice will be stifled, nor will an action like expulsion take place again. Your control is on the Opposition but it should be on the ruling side too.”

In December, 141 MPs in both Houses of Parliament – 95 in the Lok Sabha and 46 in the Rajya Sabha – were suspended from the Winter Session of Parliament for allegedly disrupting the proceedings as they sought a discussion on the December 13 security breach in the Lok Sabha chamber.

Addressing the Lok Sabha after his election, Birla read out a resolution on the Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, PTI reported. He called the move an attack on the Constitution.

“June 25, 1975 will always be known as a black chapter in the history of India,” he said amid protests by the Opposition party. “This House strongly condemns the decision to impose Emergency in 1975.”

In the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 240 seats. This was a significant fall from its tally of 303 seats in 2019. As it fell short of the majority mark of 272 seats, it had to depend on its partners in the National Democratic Alliance to form the government.

The Opposition INDIA bloc collectively has 232 seats in the Lower House.

Earlier on Tuesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said that the Opposition alliance would have conditionally supported the National Democratic Alliance’s nominee.

“…the convention is that the deputy speaker post should be given to the Opposition,” Gandhi had said, reported ANI. “If the convention is followed, we will give full support to the speaker in the election.”

It was unclear as to who will become the deputy speaker. The position was vacant during the 17th Lok Sabha.

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