Opposition Submits No-Trust Motion Against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla

The opposition has submitted a notice against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla – to remove him from his post under Article 94C of the Constitution – Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said Tuesday.

Birla has come under heavy fire from the opposition for allegedly favouring the ruling BJP and its parliamentarians in the House, including allotting (or not) time to speak and blocking criticism.

Parliament sources told NDTV the notice was submitted to the Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha and will be examined and processed per the rules and regulations of the House.

"At 1.14 pm we submitted a motion expressing no-confidence (in and) asking for the removal of Speaker Om Birla as per 94(C). The concern has been the LoP (the Leader of the Opposition, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi) has not been allowed to speak (in Parliament) on numerous occasions. Many opposition parties share this concern," Gogoi said after the notice was filed.

Article 94C allows for the removal of the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

It states they may be removed by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then-members of the Lower House, but requires a 14-day notice before the motion is tabled. However, the motion itself is unlikely to be tabled, if it comes to that, before the end of this session of Parliament.

The two-half budget session ends February 13. The House will reconvene on March 9.

The notice against the Speaker underlines the deep distrust between the ruling BJP and those in the opposition in recent sessions. That distrust broke through again last week after Rahul Gandhi was denied permission to speak – he wanted to read from ex-Army chief General MM Naravane's memoir on the 2020 Ladakh border row with China – and escalated into ferocious protests in Parliament.

The protests led Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel his Lok Sabha speech.

Protests by the opposition have forced repeated adjournments of both Houses over the past two weeks and caused high drama, including claims by Om Birla that some women members of the opposition had planned to "do something" against the Prime Minister in Parliament.

Sources earlier told NDTV the motion will highlight three points against Om Birla, starting with last week's controversy – i.e., Birla refusing to allow Rahul Gandhi to read from General Naravane's book.

The vote will also call out BJP MP Nishikant Dubey being allowed to read out from books – material that targeted the Congress and the Gandhi family – despite the Speaker's earlier ruling.

The TDP's Krishna Tenneti, in the Chair at the time, asked Dubey to stand down but the BJP MP refused to listen. The opposition has questioned the lack of action against Dubey.

And it will point to Om Birla's allegations against women opposition MPs;the Speaker had said it was he who advised the PM to not enter the House and that he had done so because women MPs from the Congress were gathered around the Prime Minister's chair, awaiting his entrance with banners.