NET-NEET controversy to Speaker election: 5 things to look forward to in first session of 18th Lok Sabha

Meanwhile, the Opposition INDIA bloc has 234 MPs in the House.

Pro tem speaker row and election of the Speaker

The Opposition has slammed the BJP-led NDA government for sidelining Kodikunnil Suresh, an eight-term Lok Sabha MP from the Congress, for the Pro tem Speaker’s position in the newly-elected House. President Droupadi Murmu had on June 20 announced BJP’s Bhartruhari Mahtab, a seven-term MP from Cuttack, for the position.

Following this, the Opposition INDIA bloc is now likely to reject the role given to Suresh and two other Opposition MPs to assist Mahtab in administering oath to the new members. The Congress has alleged that Suresh was overlooked by the BJP dispensation because he belongs to the Dalit community.

In the new Lok Sabha, the Speaker of the House is decided by a simple majority. Until the election, the Pro tem Speaker is chosen to administer some important duties. The ruling NDA and the Opposition INDIA bloc are trying to reach a consensus on the post of the Speaker of the House. Sources in the Opposition camp said although the INDIA bloc initially was in favour of arriving at a consensus with the Centre on issues such as the choice of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the government’s decision to not select Suresh, the seniormost parliamentarian in the Lok Sabha, as the Pro tem Speaker “turned the atmosphere vicious”.

The election for the post of the Speaker of Lok Sabha will be held on June 26.

UGC-NET and NEET controversies

The alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG and the now-cancelled UGC-NET examinations mark the first major issue which has drawn criticism from the Opposition after the formation of the Union government by the BJP-led NDA. Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the government would face pressure from the Opposition with regard to resolving the issue of paper leaks in competitive examinations. “They (government) can indulge in eyewash. But they will face such pressure from the Opposition that they are going to think twice about whatever they are doing,” Rahul said.

The other Opposition parties, including the SP, Shiv Sena (UBT), DMK, TMC, NCP (SP), CPI(M), CPI and AAP, have also raised the matter, while demanding the scrapping of the NEET-UG exam and resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Following relentless student protests against the discrepancies, the education ministry on Friday formed a high-level panel to make recommendations for the reform of competitive examinations in the country.

Safety in Indian Railways after Kanchanjunga collision

Over a year after the fatal triple-train collision involving the Coromandel Express near Balasore in Odisha, the Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express was hit by a goods train from the rear in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district, leaving 10 persons dead and at least 40 injured. Following the tragedy, the Opposition, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge leading the charge, raised several questions over the incident.

“Whenever a railway accident occurs, the current Railway Minister reaches the spot equipped with cameras and behaves as if everything is fine….We have 7 questions – which the Modi government will have to answer!” Kharge posted on X. He asked why a single kilometre of the ‘Kavach’ protection was not added after the Balasore train accident.

Kharge also said that 1,00,000 people had lost their lives in rail accidents between 2017 and 2021, citing a 2022 NCRB report. “The Parliamentary Standing Committee in its 323rd report had criticised the railways for the “neglect” shown by the Railway Board towards the recommendations of the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS),” he said. He further alleged that the CRS investigates only eight to ten per cent of these incidents.

He also asked why 75% of the funding in ‘Rashtriya Rail Suraksha Kosh’ (RRSK) was reduced, while Rs 20,000 crore was supposed to be provided every year, according to the CAG.

Discussion on implementation of new criminal laws

One of the issues that the Opposition is expected to raise in the Parliament is the implementation of the new criminal laws — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNA), the Bharatiya Sakhsya Adhiniyam (BSA), and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanita (BNSS) — with two chief ministers from the INDIA bloc campaigning against it. Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee have urged the Centre to keep in abeyance the three laws which have been enacted to replace the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Evidence Act.

In her letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mamata asked him to postpone the implementation of the laws and place them on the floor of Parliament for “fresh deliberation and scrutiny.” She said the three “critical bills” had been passed with no debate. “That day, almost one hundred members of the Lok Sabha had been suspended and a total 146 MPs of the both Houses were thrown out of the Parliament,” the letter read. The TMC supremo added that the bills were “passed in an authoritarian manner” and that the “matter deserves review now.”

Presidential address in the first session

President Droupadi Murmu will deliver her first address to the 18th Lok Sabha in a joint sitting of both the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament on June 27. As per Article 87 of the Constitution, there are two instances wherein the President addresses both houses, one of them being at the beginning of the first session after the Lok Sabha elections.

The address will be key to understanding the Centre’s plans and focus areas for the year ahead, given that the speech the President reads is the viewpoint of the government and is written by it. Although there is no set format for the address, the Constitution states that the President shall “inform Parliament of the cause of the summons”.

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