Who is pro-tem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab: 7-time Cuttack MP a new BJP entrant

Seven-time Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab of the BJP has been appointed the pro-tem Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha.

“President Droupadi Murmuappointed Bhartruhari Mahtab, Member, Lok Sabha as Speaker Pro-tem under Article 95(1) of the Constitution,” an official communication from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Thursday. The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will be held between June 24 and July 3, during which the new Speaker will be elected, most likely on June 26.

“Whenever the House of the People is dissolved, the Speaker shall not vacate his office until immediately before the first meeting of the House of the People after the dissolution,” states Article 94 of the Constitution. In the Lok Sabha, the Speaker is decided through a simple majority. The pro-tem Speaker is chosen to discharge some important duties like administering oaths to the MPs.

Mahtab is a seven-term MP, which makes him one of the longest-serving parliamentarians in the current Lok Sabha. The 66-year-old has been representing Cuttack in Parliament since 1998. He has a first-hand experience of running the House as he was among the panel of chairpersons in the previous Lok Sabha.

Son of Odisha’s first Chief Minister Harekrushna Mahtab, Bhartruhari resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections while expressing displeasure over its functioning in recent years. He subsequently joined the BJP, which named him as its candidate for the Cuttack seat, where he defeated his former party colleague Santrupt Misra by more than 57,000 votes. He previously served as the BJD’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019.

His resignation from the BJD in March came days after a special court in Odisha framed charges against him in a