Lok Sabha Speaker Election: All Updates

The Indian Lok Sabha will witness a rare contest for the election of the Speaker on Wednesday with BJP's Om Birla, eyeing his second term, facing a challenge from INDIA alliance backed Congress MP K Suresh. K Suresh is the eight-time MP from Kerala's Mavelikara. Though NDA sought support from the INDIA bloc, the government and opposition failed to reach a consensus after the incumbent refused to give up the Deputy Speaker's post, which was demanded by the rival parties. The Speaker's election scheduled on Wednesday is expected to go in favour of the government with the numbers stacked up for the ruling NDA alliance.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: All updates from 5th phase of voting

Voting is currently underway in 49 seats across six states and two Union Territories in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Monday. The voting process started at 7 am. Despite the small number of seats going for polls in this phase, the fates of high-profile leaders like  Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, and Piyush Goyal, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. In this phase, over 8.95 crore voters are eligible to express their democratic choice across 94,732 polling stations in the country.