Lok Sabha Speaker polls: BJP, allies to meet at Rajnath Singh’s residence; announce candidates soon. What we know so far

A meeting of top BJP leaders and alies is scheduled for Tuesday evening at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence to discuss about the candidates for the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker positions. Sources close the development informed that some NDA constituents will also participate in the polls for Lok Sabha Speaker's post. The election is set for June 26, two days after the Parliament's first session commences.

Rajnath Singh has been given the responsibility to build a consensus for the election of the Speaker's post among alliance parties as well as opposition parties. Menanwhile, the opposition INDIA bloc is likely to field a candidate for the Speaker's post if the Deputy Speaker's post, as is the norm, is not given to them

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Om Birla presently holds the post of Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament. He was elected as the speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha in June 2019, following a motion for election moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, Birla was fielded from Kota by the BJP, and he bagged the Parliamentary seat with a margin of over 41,139 votes.

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) has said they will support the BJP's choice. JD(U) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and support the candidate nominated by BJP for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.

BJP core group in Maharashtra

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra BJP core group will convene at the party headquarters tonight to strategise for the upcoming state assembly elections later this year. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state party president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ashish Shelar, MP Ashok Chauhan, Minister Girish Mahajan, and other key leaders will attend the meeting, which will be chaired by BJP chief J P Nadda.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP general secretary (organization) BL Santhosh are also expected to be present at this meeting, according to sources.\