BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has proposed the name of three-time MLA from Boudh Pradip Amat as the new Speaker of the Assembly.
Party’s Rayagada MLA Lalbihari Himirika is tipped to be the Deputy Speaker. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik proposed the name of Amat as the Speaker while Parliamentary Affairs Minister seconded it. The election of the Speaker will be held tomorrow.
It is going to be unanimous election as no other political party has announced its candidate. Amat election is now a formality. While the BJD has won 103 Assembly seats in the recent polls, its allies - Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and CPI - have won five and one seat respectively.
Congress and BJP do not have an outside chance to create any problem in the Speaker’s election as they have won 27 and 6 seats respectively. Independents have won six seats.
Amat will be the 17th Speaker. The first Speaker was Mukunda Prasad Das. Nanda Kishore Mishra and Prasanna Kumar Dash held Speaker’s post for two terms each. Amat will succeed Kishore Kumar Mohanty who was defeated in the Assembly election.
Amat first won from the Boudh constituency in 2000 election as an Independent candidate. In his second term in the Assembly he went onto become the minister of state for Steel and Mines.
BJD’s Deputy Speaker candidate Himirika defeated Congress heavyweight Ramchandra Ulaka from the Rayagada constituency. This will be his second term in the Assembly.