Live updates from the Lok Sabha session: The 18th LS starts with a "observance of silence" for the first sitting

Live updates on the Lok Sabha session: Ahead of Monday's 18th Lok Sabha session, BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab was sworn in as the pro-tem Speaker by President Droupadi Murmu. Together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will lead the House, he is supposed to deliver the oath to recently elected Members of Parliament.
The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha is scheduled to start today. Congress and INDIA bloc MPs are expected to abstain from helping with the newly elected MPs' oath-taking ceremony, citing their displeasure with the appointment of BJP MP Bhartruhari Mehtab as protem Speaker instead of the eight-time Congress MP K Suresh.

The 18th Lok Sabha's first session will begin today with the swearing-in of