Lok Sabha seating: Gadkari gets back spot next to Amit Shah

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been allocated seat number one in the Lok Sabha chamber, while the seat opposite to him on the other side of the semicircular front row has been earmarked for Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari was earlier allocated division number 58 in the second column, but has now been given seat number four next to Home Minister Amit Shah, according to a circular issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has got division seat number two, next to the prime minister.

Another prominent opposition leader, Akhilesh Yadav, who heads the Samajwadi Party (SP), will sit on seat number 355 in the front row. Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sudip Bandhopadhyay will sit next to Yadav. TMC leaders Abhishek Banerjee, Kalyan Banerjee and Saugata Roy have been allocated seats numbered 280, 281 and 284 in the second row.

DMK leaders T R Baalu and A Raja have also been allocated front-row seats.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who won the recent Wayanad bypoll, has been allocated seat number 517, which is in the fourth row.

The circular said division numbers are same as seat numbers.

Division numbers are used mainly during a division of votes when the electronic voting system is used.

The House has one vacancy -- Basirhat from West Bengal -- due to the death of S K Nurul Islam of the TMC.