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Tuesday, Jun 02, 2009
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Lok Sabha off to good start

New Delhi Bureau

House set to unanimously elect Meira Kumar Speaker

NEW DELHI: The 15th Lok Sabha had a smooth start here on Monday with every indication that the government would clear its first test, which is the election of the Speaker, without any hiccups as it was expected to be a unanimous affair on Wednesday.

Even as close to 330 members took their oath of allegiance to the Constitution in an orderly fashion, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was busy readying sets of nomination papers to be filed in favour of Meira Kumar for Speaker.

Just ahead of the first sitting of the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveyed the mood in favour of a “new beginning” that will allow “Parliament to run smoothly” and hoped that “dialogue, discussion and reason would prevail in the proceedings.” He promised to give due respect to the Opposition.

Practically all the Ministers who are members of the Lok Sabha took their oath on Monday: one notable exception was Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The oath was administered State-wise in the alphabetical order to other members. The MPs from Punjab took the oath at the end of the day. On Tuesday, the list will begin with Rajasthan. Members who could not take the oath on Monday will be able to complete the formalities on Tuesday.

As has been the practice in all instances of unanimous election of the Speaker, the government was putting together sets of nomination papers to be signed by the leaders of different political parties, including those in the Opposition, in favour of Ms. Kumar.

There were indications that while Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee would propose and second Ms. Kumar’s name in the first set of papers, the second set would be signed by Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. Separate sets of nomination papers would be signed by each of the ruling coalition partners as well as those on the Opposition benches.

The same way, when the BJP decides on its candidate for Deputy Speaker, multiple nomination papers will be filed by leaders of different parties. That election is tentatively scheduled for June 8.

The nomination forms will be submitted to P.D.T. Achary, Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha, between 10 a.m. and 12 noon on Tuesday.

Motions seeking the election of Ms. Kumar will be moved on Wednesday. The election is expected to take place by voice vote on the first motion moved by the government. Soon afterwards, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition will escort the Speaker to the presiding officer’s chair.

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