Om Birla Is New Lok Sabha Speaker
Political parties moved a total of 13 motions in support of Om Birla.
National Democratic Alliance nominee Om Birla was today unanimously elected as speaker of Lok Sabha with several parties moving a motion in his support.
There was no other candidate in the fray and the motion moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to choose the Kota-Bundi member of parliament as speaker was adopted by a voice vote.
A total of 13 motions were moved in support of Birla.
Since the motion moved by Modi, also leader of the House, was adopted, the other motions became infructuous.
Birla was declared elected by pro-tem Speaker Virendra Kumar.
Modi led the new speaker to the presiding officer's chair.
Leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and All India Trinamool Congress went up the podium to greet the 56-year-old new speaker of the Lower House.
Though the Congress and the DMK had moved notices for supporting Birla as the speaker well past the 12 noon Tuesday deadline, the pro-tem Speaker allowed it to be included as a "special case".
Birla won his first Lok Sabha election in 2014.
Birla is a two-time Parliamentarian from the Kota-Bundi constituency of Rajasthan. Prior to 2014, he had been a three-time Member of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from Kota South.
He is also one of the most active Parliamentarian. According to date on PRS India, his 86 percent attendance was higher than the national average. He also posed 671 questions, which is more than double of the national average. He also participated in much more debates than an average MP.
Apart from being an active member of the Lok Sbaha, Birla has been involved social work in his home state where he initiated several welfare programs. One of them, Paridhan, started in 2012, involves distribution of clothes and books for the underprivileged and organising blood donation camps. He also started a free meal program and a medicine bank that supplies drugs to the marginal sections of society for free. He has also provided financial assistance to patients of cancer and Thalassemia.