Who is Kodikunnil Suresh, INDIA bloc’s candidate for Lok Sabha speaker race?
Kodikunnil Suresh
Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Kodikunnil Suresh and National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) Om Birla are going up against each other in a battle for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post, after consensus talks helmed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh failed.
Ahead of the election for the speaker of the lower house on Wednesday (June 26), K Suresh filed his nomination for the coveted post, challenging the NDA’s repeat pick Kota MP Om Birla.
Suresh, the senior-most member of the 18th Lok Sabha, was also at the centre of the recent pro-tem speaker row after the ruling BJP-led alliance nominated Bhartruhari Mahtab for the post instead of him.
Notably, this is the first open election for the Speaker; the last time such election was held was decades ago- once in 1952 and later in 1976.
Who is K Suresh?
Kodikunnil Suresh is an eight-term MP and currently represents the SC-reserved Mavelikara Lok Sabha constituency in the southern state of Kerala.
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A Congress Working Committee Member (Special Invitee), he was one of the frontrunners for the post of Congress Kerala unit chief in 2021.
He serves as the chief whip of Congress parliamentary party in Lok Sabha and is also the working president of Congress’s Kerala unit.
First elected to Lok Sabha in 1989, Suresh went on to win four straight times in the general elections from the Adoor constituency, emerging victorious also in 1991, 1996 and 1999.
However, he was defeated in the 1998 and 2004 general elections.
The MP served as Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment in the second UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Notably, he was disqualified by the Kerala high court in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections over a plea filed by his opponent RS Anil of the CPI, alleging that his caste certificate was fake and that he belonged to the OBC Cheramar Christian community and not the Cheramar Hindu community that is categorised as a Scheduled Caste.
However, the verdict was later reversed by the Supreme Court that set aside the High Court’s order, and he retained his seat.
The Mavelikara MP, with declared assets worth Rs 15 million in the Lok Sabha polls, has six criminal cases relating to rioting, unlawful assembly and obstructing a public servant from discharging duty registered against him.
(With inputs from agencies)
