First session of 18th Lok Sabha from June 24; all eyes on Speaker election

The first three days of the session will see the newly elected leaders taking oath or making affirmation of their membership of the Lok Sabha and electing the Speaker of the House.

New Delhi: The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will be held from June 24 for the oath of affirmation of newly elected MPs, the election of the new Speaker and the President's Address to the joint sitting of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

The first session will end on July 3 after a Motion of Thanks on the President's address is passed by both the Houses.

The first three days of the session will see MPs taking oath and the election of a new Speaker. On June 27, President Droupadi Murmu will address a joint sitting and outline the new government's roadmap for the next five years.

Announcing the details of the session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also said the 264th Session of the Rajya Sabha will commence on June 27 and conclude on July 3.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will introduce his council of ministers to the Parliament after the President's Address on June 27. The debate on Motion of Thanks on the President's Address is likely to send sparks flying as a rejuvenated Opposition with a bigger number will be taking on a diminished NDA, which has managed to cross the majority mark.

Hours before the start of the session, a pro-tem speaker will be sworn in by the President who will conduct the oath of MPs and the election of the Speaker. Usually, the senior-most member of the Lok Sabha is selected as pro-tem speaker. The Lok Sabha Secretariat provides a list of senior-most MPs and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs recommends the name to the President for appointment.

Congress' eight-term MP Kodikkunnil Suresh is the senior-most MP this time. The second, eight-term MP Virendra Kumar of BJP, has been sworn in as a minister. In 2019, Kumar had served as pro-tem speaker while Kamal Nath had been the pro-tem speaker in 2014.

The first confrontation between the government and the Opposition is likely to be on June 26 when the election of the Speaker comes up.

The BJP is unlikely to cede the Speaker's post to an ally while a section in the Opposition is of the view that they should force a contest if the BJP does not give the Deputy Speaker post to them.

The outgoing Speaker, Om Birla, is the first Speaker to be re-elected to Lok Sabha after PA Sangma who won again in 1999 polls after being the presiding officer of the Lower House. There were reports about BJP considering Andhra MP D Purandeswari for the post though there has been no official word about it.

I.N.D.I.A. bloc leaders will be holding discussions around June 24 to finalise their strategy on the Speaker's post and other issues. The Opposition will be demanding an election to the post of Deputy Speaker, which remained vacant for the entire tenure of 17th Lok Sabha. The Deputy Speaker's post is a constitutional post.