New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan was formally elected as Lok Sabha Speaker on today. With her election, Mahajan has become the second woman after Meira Kumar to hold the post.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed her name. Congress Parliamentary Party leader Mallikarjun Kharge and others seconded it. In her first address to the house, she said, “We have the duty to fulfill the hope that the people of this country have invested in us. That is what this janadesh is.”
Mahajan, 72, is an eight-term member of the Lok Sabha from Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Representing Indore in the Lok Sabha since 1989, she was a minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1999 to 2004.
Mahajan was elected from Indore for the eighth time in the 2014 General Election by a margin of 4.67 lakh votes. Mahajan, lovingly called ‘Tai’, is known for her amicable nature and has her friends and admirers in all parties.
In the 245-member Rajya Sabha, the BJP has just 42 members and its ally Shiv Sena-3, Shirmomani Akali Dal-3 and TDP-6. RPI-A is having one member.
Bureau Report
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