JOIN USBJP veteran Sumitra Mahajan will be the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 19 other MPs drawn even from the Opposition, including the Congress and Left parties, proposing her name on Thursday for appointment as the constitutional head of the Lower House of Parliament.
The election of the Speaker on Friday will now be a mere formality as Mahajan, 71, is unopposed. The motion in writing proposing Mahajan’s name was submitted to the Lok Sabha secretary-general.
While senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj joined Modi in backing her candidature, Opposition leaders Mallikarjun Kharge (Cong), M Thambidurai (AIADMK), Sudip Bandopadhyay (Trinamool Congress), B Mahtab (BJD), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), H D Deve Gowda (JDS), Supriya Sule (NCP), Mohammed Salim (CPM) and Jitendra Reddy (TRS) also joined them. BJP patriarch L K Advani led a group of 17 MPs from BJP and other parties to second her name.
As nominations closed on Thursday, Mahajan’s name will be put before the House presided over by pro tem Speaker Kamal Nath to be unanimously elected as Speaker on Friday.