Virendra Kumar to be Pro tem Speaker of Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Former Union Minister and seven-time MP Virendra Kumar will be the Pro tem Speaker of the new Lok Sabha which will have its first session on June 17.

Kumar, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Madhya Pradesh, will administer the oath to the newly-elected members of the 17th Lok Sabha.

In the first term of the Modi government, the 65-year-old leader was Minister of State for Women and Child Development.

The Pro tem Speaker is a temporary arrangement till the regular Speaker is elected by the Lok Sabha. Kumar will administer the oath to the new members of the Lok Sabha on June 17 and 18 before the new Speaker is elected on June 19.

President Ram Nath Kovind will address a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on June 20. The new government will present its first Budget on July 5 while the Parliament session will continue till July 26.