INDIA bloc leaders will NOT assist pro-tem Speaker during 18th Lok Sabha session

As the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha is set to begin today, INDIA bloc leaders decided not to sit in the Speaker's chair to assist the Pro-tem Speaker during the oath-taking ceremony of newly elected MPs.

Sources told ANI that the Congress and other opposition parties are disappointed that seven-time BJP MP Bhratruhari Mehtab was made the Pro-tem Speaker instead of eight-time Congress MP K Suresh.

The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha is set to commence on June 24, starting with the oath-taking ceremony for the newly elected legislators. The election of the Speaker is scheduled for June 26. President Droupadi Murmu is expected to address Parliament on June 27.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the 18th Lok Sabha in response to President Murmu's speech on July 2. His address to the Rajya Sabha is scheduled for the following day.

However, the Opposition is likely to create an uproar, raising concerns over the NEET and UGC-NET exams. The UGC cancelled the UGC-NET examination on Wednesday, a day after it was held, amid a massive row over the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam NEET.

Besides the NEET row, the first day of the Lok Sabha session is likely to be marred by the Opposition's protest over the appointment of BJP leader Bhartruhari Mahtab as the pro-tem Speaker.

The controversy is likely to shadow the proceedings as opposition has claimed that Congress member K Suresh, was the most eligible member to be elected as pro-tem Speaker.

Suresh was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1989 and thereafter in the 1991,1996, and 1999 general elections from the Adoor constituency in Kerala. In the 2024 general elections, Suresh won from Mavelikkara. This was his fourth win from Mavelikkara in Kerala.

(With inputs from agencies)