Delhi/Kota, June 25 (HS): Om Birla, elected for the third time from Kota-Bundi Lok Sabha constituency of Rajasthan, filed his nomination on Tuesday as the candidate for the post of Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha on behalf of the ruling BJP-led NDA. Opposition has filed Congress MP from Kerala K. Suresh.

There was a wave of happiness among the BJP leaders and workers of entire Rajasthan including Hadoti division when Birla, who was the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha, was made the candidate for the post of Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha. About three and a half decades ago, Congress' Balram Jakhar from Rajasthan was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha twice.

Om Birla was born on 23 November 1962 in Kota. His karmabhoomi has always been Kota. He considers the people of Kota-Bundi as his family. His late father Shri Krishna Birla was in government service, mother Shakuntala used to take care of the house. He received his schooling from Government Multipurpose School, Gumanpura. After that, he took B.Com. and M.Com. degrees from Government Commerce College Kota, affiliated to Rajasthan University. In college too, he was popular among the youth as the student union president. After that, he was also a BJP MLA from Kota South twice. His wife Dr. Amita Birla is a government doctor. Of the two daughters, Akanksha is a CA and Anjali is an Indian Administrative Service officer.

Om Birla, as the Speaker from 2019 to 2023, gave full opportunity to the MPs of all parties to put forth their views in the House, apart from uproar and controversies in the Lok Sabha. This developed a tradition of healthy debate on important bills and issues of public interest. Under Birla's efficient management, the productivity of the sessions of the 17th Lok Sabha was 122.2 percent, which is the highest compared to the first five sessions of the 14th, 15th and 16th Lok Sabha. The House passed 107 bills after detailed discussion. The bills were discussed for 262.5 hours and 1744 members of the ruling and opposition parties put forth their views.

Birla gave the opportunity to speak to as many members as possible in all sessions to increase the accountability of the central government. During the Question Hour, he gave oral answers to an average of 5.37 questions per day, which led to him being called the hero of the Question Hour. The government also answered 89.82 percent of the topics raised under Rule 377. By eliminating the subsidy on food for MPs in Parliament and stopping the expenditure on unnecessary works, he reduced wasteful expenditure of crores of rupees. Birla is considered certain to become the Speaker of the Lok Sabha for the second consecutive time.