Om Birla likely to be next Lok Sabha Speaker

Om Birla, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament from Kota, will likely be the NDA candidate for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker, sources said.

Birla defeated Congress' Ramnarain Meena by over 2.5 lakh votes from Kota parliamentary seat in the recently concluded general election.

The development comes a day after the Pro-tem Speaker Virendra Kumar was sworn in by the President and over 300 MPs took oath during the inaugural session of the 17th Lok Sabha.

"It is a very proud and a happy moment for us. We are very thankful to the cabinet for choosing him," Om Birla's wife Amita Birla said.

Sumitra Mahajan was the last Speaker of Lok Sabha.

She had earlier announced her decision to not contest the general elections and said that BJP is free to name a candidate from Indore parliamentary constituency.

In a press statement, Mahajan, an eight-time Member of Parliament (MP) from Indore, said that the reason behind the decision was the delay in announcing the BJP candidate from the Indore seat.

"BJP has not declared its candidate from Indore. Why this state of indecision? Possibly the party has some hesitation in taking a decision. Even though I had a discussion with the leadership long back and left the decision to the party, it seems they are still in a dilemma. Therefore, I announce that I will not contest the Lok Sabha polls and the party is free to decide, without any hesitation," she said.