The newly-elected Members of Parliament (MPs), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be taking an oath at the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha on Monday. The Speaker will subsequently be elected, and President Droupadi Murmu will address a joint sitting of both Houses.
Following the April–June general elections, this will be the first Lok Sabha session. With 293 seats, the NDA leads the 18th Lok Sabha, while the BJP leads with 240 seats, falling short of the 272 majority needed. With Congress holding 99 seats, the Opposition INDIA bloc has 234 members.
The swearing-in ceremony for PM Modi and his Council of Ministers is scheduled at 11 a.m. The MPs from multiple states will then take the oath in alphabetical order after that.
On Monday, 280 newly-elected MPs, including PM Modi and his Council of Ministers, will take oath, while the remaining 264 will take oath the next day (June 25).
The disagreement surrounding Bhartruhari Mahtab, a seven-term member of the BJP, being named pro tem Speaker is expected to cloud the proceedings. The move has drawn criticism from the Opposition, which alleged that the claim of Congress member Kodikunnil Suresh to the post was disregarded by the government.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that Mahtab has had seven uninterrupted terms as a Lok Sabha member, making him eligible for the post. Suresh is serving his fourth consecutive term in the Lower House after losing elections in 1998 and 2004. He has previously been elected in 1989, 1991, 1996, and 1999 to the Lok Sabha.
At Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday, President Droupadi Murmu will administer Mahtab as the pro tem Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Members will observe a moment of silence to mark the inaugural session of the 18th Lok Sabha before the proceedings get underway. The list of the members elected to the Lok Sabha will thereafter be put on the table of the House by Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh.
Mahtab then calls on the Leader of the Lok Sabha and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to swear in as a member of the House.
The pro tem speaker will then administer the oath to the panel of chairpersons appointed by the President to assist him in carrying out the House’s proceedings until the Speaker’s election on June 26.
The President has appointed Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Trinamool Congress), Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste (both BJP), Kodikunnil Suresh (Congress), and TR Baalu (DMK) to assist Mahtab in giving the oath/affirmation to the newly elected members of the Lok Sabha.
On June 26, the Prime Minister will present his council of ministers before the House following the election for the post of Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
On June 27, the President is expected to address the joint session of both houses of Parliament. There will be a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address on June 28. PM Modi is expected to speak on the debate on July 2 or 3.
