New Delhi : NDA candidate Om Birla and INDIA bloc’s Kodikunnil Suresh on Tuesday filed their nominations for the post of Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha on Tuesday, forcing the first election for the post.

Since independence, the Lok Sabha Speaker and deputy Speaker have been elected by consensus between the ruling party and the opposition but this time, after the INDIA bloc’s announcement, the election will take place.

The Lok Sabha Speaker will be elected on June 26. On June 27, President Murmu is scheduled to address a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament.

An agriculturist and social worker, the low-profile leader, Birla, has been active in politics from his student days and served as state unit president of the Bhartiya Yuva Morcha in 1991 and as vice-president at the national level.

Birla was elected to the 17th Lok Sabha from Kota, where he defeated Congress’ Ramnarain Meena by over 2.5 lakh votes. He was elected to the last Lok Sabha from the same seat. In the 16th Lok Sabha, Birla was a member of the Standing Committee on Energy in Parliament and member of Committee on Petitions and Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

NDA candidate Birla was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha. Birla’s name was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was supported by all major opposition parties, including Congress, TMC, DMK, and BJD. The YSRCP and TDP also supported Birla’s candidature.

INDIA bloc candidate K Suresh is currently the longest-serving Lok Sabha MP, as he has remained MP for 29 years.  Suresh was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989, and thereafter, he won consecutively in the 1991, 1996, and 1999 general elections to the Lok Sabha from the Adoor constituency for four straight terms.

Suresh, who won his eighth Lok Sabha election from Mavelikkara (Kerala) in the 2024 general elections, has represented the seat four times in the past. He is the working-president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and was the chief whip of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the 17th Lok Sabha.

Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that they had conveyed to Rajnath Singh that the opposition is ready to extend support to the NDA’s Speaker candidate, but the post of Deputy Speaker should be given to the opposition.

Interacting with the media on Tuesday, Rahul said, “We have said to Rajnath Singh that we will support their candidate for Speaker, but the convention is that the post of Deputy Speaker be given to the opposition.”

The NDA, which has 293 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha, enjoys a clear majority, with the opposition INDIA bloc having 234 MPs.