The Voice of the People (VPP) will abstain from the election of the new Lok Sabha Speaker tomorrow.
Om Birla of the BJP and Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress will take each other head on in the election for the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha.
VPP president Ardent M. Basaiawmoit who is currently in New Delhi today informed the media that party MP Ricky Andrew Jones Syngkon will abstain from the voting.
“He (Syngkon) will neither support the NDA nor the INDIA bloc. We wish the two would have reached a consensus on the Speaker’s post,” Basaiawmoit said.
Meanwhile, the two Lok Sabha MPs from Meghalaya, Ricky Andrew Jones Syngkon and Saleng A. Sangma today afternoon took their oaths as members of the 18th Lok Sabha.
From Meghalaya, Syngkon who is the VPP MP from Shillong seat was the first to take the oath. He was immediately followed by Sangma who is the Congress MP from Tura seat.
Unlike the rest of the MPs who took the oath today, both the MPs from Meghalaya were dressed in full suits.
Syngkon concluded his oath with the words “Khublei Shibun” and “Mithela”. He also shook hands with Protem Speaker Bhartuhari Mahtab and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Sangma who stepped onto the podium to take his oath, shook hands with Rahul Gandhi. He was then given a copy of the Constitution by Congress MP K C Venugopal.
As he concluded his oath with the words “Save Constitution”, Sangma also raised up the copy of the Constitution as he faced the treasury bench.
After shaking hands with the Protem Speaker, Sangma returned the copy of the Constitution to Venugopal and went back to his seat.
Both the Meghalaya MPs had been present in the House since the session’s commencement yesterday.
Yesterday, a total of 262 MPs took the oath and the remaining MPs took the oath today.
President Droupadi Murmu will address the joint sitting of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on June 27.
