Sumitra Mahajan: The Next Speaker Of Lok Sabha?

Bhartiya Janata Party’s Sumitra Mahajan is all set to become the speaker of the 16^th Lok Sabha. She is the front-runner in the race for the post and announcement of her nomination is expected soon.

The election for the post of speaker will take place on Friday. If elected, an eight time MP Mahajan will be the most experienced parliamentarian and second woman to hold the post.

So who is Sumitra Mahajan?

Mahajan is an MP from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, who never lost an election since 1989 – her first LS election. That time, she had defeated Congress leader and the then chief minister of state Prakash Chandra Sethi. She created history when she won the current LS election by a whopping margin of 4,66,301 votes – highest in Madhya Pradesh.

Mahajan’s political career started after marriage. Before that, she was a lawyer just like her husband Jayant Mahajan. Before she was first elected as MP in 1989, she had lost assembly elections from Indore assembly constituency thrice. But she never looked back after her win over Sethi where she had a big margin of over one lakh votes. She was 46 years old then.

Over the years, soft spoken Mahajan has become ‘Tai’ to the local women who look upto her as someone who could redress their grievances be it sexual harassment, domestic violence or career-related issues. She is known for simplicity, honesty and clean politics. She has a clean track record and has always maintained distances from Special Interest Group.

Despite being the constant voice of BJP from MP and having a huge popular base, Mahajan was always given less than what she deserved. She was made MoS for Human Resource and Development, Communication & IT, and Petroleum and Natural Gas in Vajpayee government when she was expected to manage the HRD portfolio. The opposition within BJP never let her name projected as the chief ministerial candidate in the state.

Becoming the Lok Sabha speaker will be the peak for the career of 72 year old Mahajan.