Bhartruhari Mahtab, a seven-time Member of Parliament, was sworn in as pro-tem Speaker for the 18th Lok Sabha today. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Cuttack. However, the Opposition slammed the Centre for Mr Mahtab’s appointment as the pro-tem Speaker and “overlooking” Kodikunnil Suresh, an eight-term Lok Sabha member, who apparently should have got the post as per the convention of naming the senior-most MP. They also alleged that Suresh was sidelined because “he belongs to the Dalit community”. 

Who is Bhartruhari Mahtab?

1. Born in 1957, Mr Mahtab is the son of Odisha’s first chief minister, the late Harekrushna Mahtab. After completing his schooling in Bhadrak, he pursued a Bachelor of Arts and later a Master’s Degree in English from Utkal University in 1978, according to his election affidavit.

2. After being a part of the former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for a few decades, Mr Mahtab severed ties with the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He expressed displeasure over the party’s functioning in recent years. Subsequently, he joined the BJP, which later announced him as its candidate for the Cuttack seat. In 2024 polls, Mr Mahtab secured a historic seventh consecutive term from the seat, defeating his former party colleague Santrupt Misra by 57,077 votes.

3.  Mr Mahtab is a seven-term MP from the Cuttack parliamentary constituency in Odisha, making him one of the longest-serving parliamentarians in the 18th Lok Sabha. The 66-year-old has been representing the Cuttack seat in the Lower House of Parliament since 1998. He was on the panel of chairpersons in the 17th Lok Sabha.

4. The choice of Mr Mahtab to serve as the pro-tem Speaker comes after the BJP’s resounding victory in Odisha, where the party managed to dislodge Mr Patnaik’s 24-year regime. While the saffron party bagged 78 seats and formed a government in the state. The BJP also registered a win on 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

5. During his last term, he served as the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development. He was also appointed as the deputy chairperson of the Committee on Official Language, besides being a member of the Public Accounts Committee.  Mr Mahtab also serves as the owner and editor of The Prajatantra, an Odia daily that was founded by his father.