Sumitra Mahajan to be Lok Sabha speaker

Senior BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan would be the next speaker of the Lok Sabha, becoming the second woman after Meira Kumar to hold the post.

Mahajan's was the only name proposed when the time for filing nominations for the speaker's post came to a close Thursday.

Senior leaders from all parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, moved motions proposing her name.

The others who proposed her name included Congress Parliamentary Party leader Mallikarjun Kharge, AIADMK's M. Thambidurai, Trinamool Congress' Sudip Bandopadhyay, and Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Besides the prime minister, other Bharatiya Janata Party leaders who have proposed her name include Home Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said.

The formal election of the new speaker will take place Friday.

Mahajan, 72, is an eight-term member of the Lok Sabha from Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Representing Indore in the Lok Sabha since 1989, she was a minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1999 to 2004.

Mahajan was elected from Indore for the eighth time in the 2014 general election by a margin of 4.67 lakh votes.