Five-term Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Meira Kumar on Tuesday became the consensus candidate of the ruling United Progressive Alliance and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.
Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee led a UPA delegation to submit Kumar's nomination papers to Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary for the election to the Speaker's post scheduled to be held on Wednesday.
Kumar, 64, who will be the first woman to head the Lok Sabha, is expected to be elected unopposed as Mukherjee submitted 13 sets of nomination papers which included a set signed by Leader of the Opposition L K Advani and seconded by BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.
"We have filed 13 sets of nomination papers. The first set was signed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and I have seconded it," Mukherjee told reporters at Parliament House.
He said Leader of Opposition L K Advani had also signed a set of nomination papers.
"It is a historic moment for women," Kumar said. Among others who filed nomination papers included Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shailendra Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Arjun Charan Sethi and B Mahtab of the Biju Janata Dal, Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference and E Ahamed of the Indian Union Muslim League.
