Om Birla vs K Suresh: Rare election for Lok Sabha Speaker post today in nearly 50 years

Breaking a decades-old convention, BJP MP Om Birla and Congress lawmaker K Suresh on Tuesday filed nominations for the Speaker's election after the Opposition refused to back down on its demand for the Deputy Speaker's post.

A historic contest between Om Birla of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and K Suresh of the Congress is expected to take place during the 18th Lok Sabha session, which got underway on Monday. Usually, the person for the post is chosen by a consensus between the ruling and opposition parties. However, this is the first time since 1946 that the election for the Lok Sabha Speaker will take place.

As the third day of Parliament reconvenes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make the motion to choose Om Birla Speaker of the Lok Sabha at 11 a.m. today. 

In defiance of the long-standing tradition, Birla and Suresh submitted their candidatures for speaker on Tuesday. This came about because the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) failed to adequately respond to the opposition INDIA bloc's demand for the position of Deputy Speaker.

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.

In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led NDA secured 293 seats to secure its third straight term of power, while the INDIA alliance secured 233 seats. The largest partners of the BJP, which gained 240 seats, are the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which has 16 seats, and Janata Dal (United), which has 12 seats.

If Birla, the BJP MP from Kota, is elected, it will be fifth time that a Speaker would serve beyond the tenure of one Lok Sabha.