Om Birla, the BJP-led NDA candidate was elected as the Speaker of the lower house by voice vote on Wednesday, June 26. Following his election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his congratulations saying that he is looking forward to the Speaker’s guidance for the next five years.
Even the leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi wished Om Birla on getting elected. One of the highlights of the event was when Rahul accompanied Birla to the chair along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and PM Modi.
For the unversed, the Lok Sabha Speaker election was conducted in Parliament for the first time in decades, over a lack of agreement between the Congress-led INDIA bloc opposition and the BJP-led NDA government. In opposition to Om Birla of the BJP, Kodikunnil Suresh was the Congress’ nominee for Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Birla was elected to serve as the 17th Lok Sabha’s Speaker on June 19, 2019. During his term, the Women’s Reservation Bill and other historic laws were passed by the Parliament. It eliminated Article 370 as well.
#WATCH | BJP MP Om Birla occupies the Chair of Lok Sabha Speaker after being elected as the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, LoP Rahul Gandhi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju accompany him to the Chair. pic.twitter.com/zVU0G4yl0d
— ANI (@ANI) June 26, 2024
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Om Birla was born on November 23, 1962, to Shrikrishna Birla and Shakuntala Devi in a Marwari Hindu family. He earned his master’s degree in commerce from Government Commerce College, Kota, and Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University, Ajmer. In 1991, he married Amita Birla, and they have two daughters, Akansha and Anjali.
Birla has been serving as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from the Kota constituency in Rajasthan since 2014. In 2024, he became the first person in 20 years to be re-elected to the lower house after serving as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
For the unversed, he is also one of only two MPs to have been appointed as Speaker twice. Prior to this, he represented the Kota South Assembly constituency in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from 2003 to 2014.
A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he contested the 2024 Lok Sabha Speaker Election as the NDA candidate and was elected. He has now won from Kota for the third time.
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Om Birla began her political career in 1987 as the district leader of the youth wing of the BJP in Kota. In 2003, he was first elected to the assembly seat in Kota. Up until 2014, when he was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from the Kota-Bundi seat, he remained a member for Rajasthan.
In 2003, Om Birla was victorious in his maiden assembly election campaign from Kota South. By 10,101 votes, he defeated Congresswoman Shanti Dhariwal. In the subsequent assembly elections in 2008, he successfully defended his seat against his closest opponent, Congressman Ram Kishan Verma, by a comfortable margin of 24,300 votes.
He defeated Pankaj Mehta (Congress) in his third assembly election in 2013 by nearly 50,000 votes, before being elected as a Member of Parliament. He served as the Rajasthan Government’s Parliamentary Secretary (MoS level) from 2003 to 2008.
Birla was elected to the 16th and 17th Lok Sabha as the BJP’s candidate for the Kota seat. In the 16th Lok Sabha, he served on the Standing Committee on Energy and the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
His appointment as Speaker of the Lok Sabha was unexpected. Rafael Grossi, the IAEA Director General, met with the Parliamentarians from the Inter-Parliamentary Union during their official visit to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
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After Prime Minister Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party presented a motion for election, Om Birla was elected Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha on June 19, 2019. Additionally, Birla received notices from the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam parties urging him to preside impartially over the Lower House.
As per the Republic of India’s legislative convention, the Opposition benches should produce the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha. In March 2021, the Lok Sabha will be facing two years without a Deputy Speaker for the first time in the Republic’s history. He ran for the Lok Sabha Speakership in 2024 on behalf of the NDA, and he won.
Apart from his political career, Om Birla is also known for his extensive social work. Many projects are managed by the Lok Sabha Speaker in the Kota Bundi parliamentary constituency, with the Blanket Fund also known was Nishulk Kambal Nidhi being the most notable.
This project provides free blankets and quilts daily to people visiting the hospital in winter. Additionally, all possible assistance and complete treatment arrangements are provided. The Lok Sabha Speaker initiated this project 16 years ago, and it continues to this day.
Belonging to the Bania merchant caste, he is maybe among the first speakers of the Lok Sabha who, like Modi and Shah, is totally of Hindi or does not speak English as their first language. Born into a third-generation RSS family, Birla spent his early years working with the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth arm of the BJP.
During this period, he became close to national BJP treasurer and Rajasthan BJP president Ramdas Agrawal, as well as BJP president Venkaiah Naidu. Kota locals who have been there for a long time remember that he became a leader due to his capacity to organise public protests against minor but significant public issues.
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As a leader of an agitation for jobs for locals in Kota’s local industry, Birla laid down in front of the automobile of Bhanvarlal Sharma, a minister in the then-government of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, in 1978 while she was a member of the BJP’s student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
As he became a two-term MLA and a first-term MP, his passion to fight for public causes evolved into a will to serve the public interest.
He soon gained a reputation for championing social causes when, in collaboration with a group of community philanthropists he refers to as the “Bhamashahs” (named for the merchant who aided Rana Pratap during his difficult times), he began offering the impoverished in his constituency prasadam (free food), nishulk paridhan uphaar (clothes), chappal vitaran (footwear), and even nishulk kambal nidhi (blankets) and refuge during the cold months.
In addition, he oversees a temporary school for uneducated women and a pharmacy. Amita, his spouse, works as a doctor for the Rajasthani government.
Om Birla started a campaign to supply District Bundi with water from the Chambal River.
He also deserves credit for the Rawatbhata Movement, which sought to waive the city development tax, and the Movement against Multinational Corporations. served as Vice Chairman of the National Cooperative Consumer Association Ltd., New Delhi, at the time of the scheme’s launch and nationwide rollout.
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