LS Speaker contest: Om Birla's opponent once saw his election declared void

Kodikunnil Suresh, the opposition's pick for the Lok Sabha speaker who will go up against the BJP's Om Birla, is a Congress veteran, an eight-term MP and one whose election in 2009 was declared invalid by the Kerala High Court before being restored by the Supreme Court.

Birla is seeking his second term as the speaker of the Lower House of Parliament.

Suresh, 66, won from the Mavelikkara (SC) constituency in Kerala with a margin of just 10,000 votes.

His first name is derived from Kodikunnil, in Thiruvananthapuram, where he was born on June 4, 1962.

Suresh was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989 and then again in the 1991, 1996 and 1999 elections. He lost the polls in 1998 and 2004.

In 2009, he won again but his victory was challenged by his nearest rival who alleged that Suresh, then a five-time MP, produced a fake caste certificate and that he was a Christian.

The Kerala High Court had declared his election invalid but the decision was later overturned by the Supreme ...