Om Birla

Om Birla (born 23 November 1962) is an Indian politician, agriculturist and social worker who is serving as the 17th and current Speaker of the Lok Sabha since 2019.

Om Birla was born on 23 November 1962, to Shrikrishna Birla and Shakuntala Devi in a Marwari Hindu family.

He completed his master's degree in commerce from Govt.

Commerce College, Kota and Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University, Ajmer.

He married Amita Birla in 1991 and has two daughters Akansha and Anjali.

He was also a member of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly representing Kota South Assembly constituency from 2003 to 2014.

He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Om Birla won his first assembly elections contesting from Kota South in 2003.

He defeated Shanti Dhariwal from Congress by a margin of 10,101 votes.

During his tenure in 2003–08, he was the Parliamentary Secretary (MoS rank) in Rajasthan Government.

In the next assembly elections, he defended his seat with a comfortable margin of 24,300 votes to his nearest candidate Ram Kishan Verma from Congress in 2008.

Before becoming a Member of Parliament, he won his third assembly election against Pankaj Mehta (Congress) by close to 50,000 votes in 2013.

He serves as a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Kota-Bundi constituency in Rajasthan since 2014.

As the BJP candidate for the Kota constituency, Birla was elected to the 16th & 17th Lok Sabha.

In the 16th Lok Sabha, he was a member of the Standing Committee on Energy and Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

His selection for the post of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha surprised many including MPs from the treasury bench.

On the 19 June 2019 Om Birla was elected Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha, following a motion for election moved by Prime Minister Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam parties also moved notices for Birla and urged him to be impartial as presiding officer of the Lower House.

The parliamentary convention for the Republic of India is for the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha to come from the Opposition benches.

As of March 2021, uniquely in the history of the Republic, the Lok Sabha approaches two years of a vacant Deputy Speaker seat.