NEW DELHI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- A lawmaker of ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), Om Birla, was unanimously elected on Wednesday as the Speaker of the Lower House "Lok Sabha," officials said.
"Om Birla was today elected as the Speaker of seventeenth Lok Sabha," a government spokesman said. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi moved the motion for Birla's election and all major political parties including Congress, DMK, TMC, BJD, YSR Congress, JD(U) and Shiv Sena supported the motion."
The 56-year-old Birla is a two-time BJP lawmaker from Rajasthan's Kota district.
The speaker is the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha and conducts proceedings inside the House. The speaker is by convention a member of the ruling party or alliance.
On Monday the first session of seventeenth Lok Sabha began in New Delhi, where the newly-elected members administered the oath. Some members administered oath on Tuesday.
In the recently held general elections, BJP under the leadership of Modi registered a victory by winning 303 seats on its own and together with its allies formed National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The alliance has strength of 353 lawmakers out of the total 543 in Indian parliament.
