Om Birla, the Member of Parliament from Kota, is going to contest for the office of the Speaker of the lower house. Congress candidate K Suresh has also filed his nomination. However, Birla is most likely to retain the office of Speaker of the Lok Sabha for the second term, considering the majority of NDA in the house and coalition parties' bidding support behind him. As the nation awaits the next Lok Sabha Speaker, let us delve into the details of Om Birla's tenure as the Speaker.
With a political career spanning over 20 years, Om Birla has been a member of both the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha. His Lok Sabha tenure started in 2014 after he won the Kota constituency on the BJP ticket. Five years later he was elected as the Speaker of the House on June 19, 2019. He succeeded Sumitra Mahajan who served as the Speaker in the 16th Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019.
Major legislation passed during Birla's tenure
During his tenure, Lok Sabha passed some of the momentous bills which have the potential to change the course of society. Some of the landmark legislations passed during his tenure are:
1. Women Reservation Act, 2023: The Act also called Naari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was passed with near unanimity. It moved the 106th Constitutional amendment and reserved one-third of the seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.
2. Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019: The act ended the evil practice of Talaaq-e-Biddat, emancipating the women of the Islamic religion.
3. New Criminal Laws, 2023: The landmark acts bright up and passed in the parliament to shred the load of coloniality by adopting Indian law. The bill was moved by the Minister of Home Affairs in the Lok Sabha to replace the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) with Bharatiya Suraksha Sanhita, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) with Bhartiya Nyay Samhita and the Indian Evidence Act with Bhartiya Sakshya Adhinium.
4. Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023: The act marks India's first comprehensive digital data protection law.
New Parliament
Om Biral is the first Lok Sabha Speaker to have chaired the session in the new Parliament. The new Parliament, inaugurated by PM Modi on May 28, 2023, replaced the British-era Parliament after nearly 76 years of Independence.
17th Lok Sabha proceedings
The 17th Lok Sabha met from June 2019 to February 2024. During this period, a noteworthy total of 274 sessions were conducted which lasted for 1,354 hours. The 17th Lok Sabha achieved a commendable work productivity rate of approximately 97 per cent.
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