Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju announced on Thursday that President Droupadi Murmu has appointed Bhartruhari Mahtab, a seven-term Member of Parliament from Cuttack, as the pro tem Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha.

 Mr. Rijiju shared on X “The President is pleased to appoint Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab, Member, Lok Sabha, as Speaker Protem under Article 95(1) of the Constitution to perform the duties of Speaker till the election of the Speaker.” 

Bhartruhari Mahtab
Image Source: Rediff.com

The newly elected members of the 18th Lok Sabha will take their oaths or affirmations before the pro-tem Speaker. Mr. Rijiju also noted that Mr. Mahtab will be supported by a panel of chairpersons, including Mr. Suresh, DMK leader T.R. Baalu, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadyay, and BJP leaders Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste.

Controversy Over Bhartruhari Mahtab Appointment

However, opposition leaders criticized the Narendra Modi government for disregarding the tradition of appointing the senior-most member, which would have been eight-term MP Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress, as the pro tem Speaker.In a post on X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh remarked that, according to tradition, the MP with the most terms served is appointed as the pro tem Speaker for the first two days, during which the newly elected MPs take their oaths. 

He wrote, “The seniormost MPs in the 18th Lok Sabha are Kodikunnil Suresh (INC) and Virendra Kumar (BJP), both of whom are now serving their 8th terms. The latter is now a Union Minister, and hence it was expected that Kodikunnil Suresh would be the Speaker Protem. Instead, a 7-term MP, Bhartruhari Mahtab, has been appointed Speaker Protem. He was a Biju Janata Dal MP for six terms and is now a BJP MP.” Congress's Manickam Tagore questioned, referring to it as the "first mistake" of the new Parliamentary Affairs Minister, "What are the Minister's intentions?"

Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal also shared his views on the matter and questioned, “It is a matter of immense pride for our party that K Suresh, a leader from the marginalized section of society,has achieved this feat of being an 8-term MP. The government should explain why it chose to overlook K Suresh; what was the factor that disqualified him from this post?”

The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will commence on June 24, with newly elected members taking their oaths or affirmations on June 24 and 25. The election of the Speaker is set for June 26.

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