Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has been hospitalised at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after testing positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the hospital said in a statement on Sunday. Birla tested positive for Covid-19 on March 19, the statement further said. "He was admitted to AIIMS COVID Centre for observation on March 20. He is stable and his parametres are normal," a release by AIIMS read. The Lok Sabha speaker actively attended the second part of the ongoing Budget session in the Parliament which began on March 8.
Om Birla won his first assembly elections contesting from Kota South in 2003. He defeated Shanti Dhariwal from Congress by a margin of 10,101 votes. In the next assembly elections, he defended his seat with a comfortable margin of 24,300 votes to his nearest candidate Ram Kishan Verma from Congress in 2008. Before becoming a Member of Parliament, he won his third assembly election against Pankaj Mehta (Congress) by close to 50,000 votes in 2013. During his tenure in 2003–08, he was the Parliamentary Secretary (MoS rank) in Rajasthan Government. He is the 18th and current Speaker of the Lok Sabha and serves as the member of Parliament for the Kota-Bundi constituency in Rajasthan.