New Delhi, February 9, 2026: Opposition parties on Monday decided to submit a notice for a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, accusing him of partisan conduct and curbing the rights of opposition members in the House.
The decision was taken during a meeting of opposition leaders held at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Confirming the development, senior Left Front MP N K Premchandran said the Speaker’s actions had compelled the opposition to unite against him.
Premchandran alleged that the Speaker did not allow Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to speak in the Lok Sabha and made objectionable remarks concerning women members of the opposition. He also objected to the suspension of eight opposition MPs, calling it an act of high-handedness. He said the no-confidence motion would be moved as a collective protest against the Speaker’s conduct.
Congress MP K C Venugopal said the Lok Sabha was being run as an extension of the government and not as an independent democratic institution. He added that such functioning of the House was unacceptable in a parliamentary democracy.
The Lok Sabha has witnessed repeated disruptions over the past several days after Rahul Gandhi was disallowed from making references to an unpublished book related to the 2020 India-China standoff along the Line of Actual Control in Galwan. The Speaker ruled that material from an unpublished work could not be quoted in the House.
Opposition leaders recalled that a similar no-confidence motion had been moved against then Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar in December 2024. That motion was rejected by the Deputy Chairman on procedural grounds, including the absence of a mandatory 14-day notice.
While acknowledging that the opposition lacks the numbers to succeed with the motion, leaders said the move would be symbolic and aimed at registering dissent against the Speaker’s manner of conducting proceedings.
The controversy has also been linked to events on January 28, when Speaker Om Birla said he had advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to enter the Lok Sabha amid tense scenes involving women opposition MPs positioned near the Prime Minister’s seat. As a result, the Prime Minister did not reply to the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s address in the Lok Sabha and responded instead the following day in the Rajya Sabha.
