On June 20, 2024, President Droupadi Murmu appointed Bhartruhari Mahtab of the BJP as pro-tem Speaker of the newly elected Lok Sabha. Mahtab had served seven terms as a member. The Congress said that the government had passed over K. Suresh, an eight-term member, and accused it of “destroying parliamentary norms.”
Kiren Rijiju answered for the government with a different count of seniority. “Suresh was not a member of the LS in 1998 and 2004, though he was an eight-term MP,” he said. According to the government, Mahtab had the longest uninterrupted tenure in the house.