Om Birla, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Rajasthan's Kota constituency, is set to be the new Lok Sabha speaker, as per media reports.
If selected, Birla, the two-time MP from Kota, will be the speaker for the 17th Lok Sabha that went in session on Monday. He will file his nomination later in the day.
Birla will be replacing previous Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan who did not contest the Lok Sabha elections this year.
When news agency ANI asked Birla whether he was the NDA candidate for the post of Lok Sabha speaker, he said he didn't have any information but his wife, Amita Birla, expressed happiness and thanked the cabinet for choosing him.
With BJP having control over 303 MPs in the lower house, Birla's election is a mere formality.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Birla defeated the Congress party candidate Ramnarain Meena with a huge margin of over 2.5 lakh votes in the Kota-Bundi Lok Sabha seat.
Birla has also served as three-time MLA from the Kota South legislative assembly seat.
