BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan was unanimously elected as the Lok Sabha Speaker on Friday
New Delhi: BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan, an eight-time member of parliament, was unanimously elected Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha on Friday.
The name of Mahajan, an MP from Indore, was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and seconded by BJP patriarch L.K. Advani and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and many others, cutting across party lines.
Earlier, after the oath-taking of the remaining MPs ended as soon as the house assembled, pro-tem Speaker Kamal Nath took up the motion of election of the speaker.
He said he had received 19 notices for election of the speaker.
Then Prime Minister Modi got up to propose Mahajan's name for speaker.
Mahajan is the second woman speaker of the Lok Sabha after Meira Kumar, who as speaker presided over the 15th Lok Sabha.
After Mahajan's election, Modi said the election of the speaker has taken place according to the highest traditions of parliament.
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Mahajan was a Minister of State in the Atal Behari Vajpayee cabinet from 1999 to 2004, holding different portfolios of Human Resources, Communications and IT and Petroleum and Natural Gas.
MPs should keep national interest in mind
Parliament should be known for holding healthy discussions and debates like earlier, new Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said on Friday and appealed to members for their cooperation in running the house in an orderly manner.
Addressing the house after her unanimous election, the eight-time BJP MP from Indore, also said that MPs should keep the national interest in mind while raising issues related to their region.
"I appeal to everyone to hold discussions in a calm manner. Our parliament was known for good discussions. We have strayed from that, healthy discussions should be the norm now," she said, addressing the house in Hindi.
She said: "The Lok Sabha is a sign of our diversity and unity, and emblem of our national sentiments. We can't dwell on our regional sentiment and must keep national sentiments in mind."
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