CHENNAI: The Speaker and Deputy Speaker were elected unanimously for the State’s 16th Assembly and they took charge on Wednesday. To elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, the secretary of the Assembly had invited applications from the elected representatives. Following this, M Appavu and K Pitchandi, both belonging to DMK, submitted their applications on Tuesday and were elected unanimously.
On Wednesday, soon after the Assembly convened, pro-tem speaker K Pitchandi elaborated the details of the election of the Speaker. He said Appavu has been elected unanimously and requested the Leader of the House Durai Murugan and leader of the principal Opposition party Edappadi K Palaniswami to lead Appavu to the Speaker’s chair. The leaders then led Appavu to his chair.
Following this, Durai Murugan, Palaniswami and floor leaders of the various political parties including Nainar Nagendran of BJP, GK Mani of PMK, Sinthanai Selvan of VCK and JG Prince of Congress felicitated the newly-elected Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Besides, Sathan Thirumalai Kumar, T Velmurugan, MH Jawahirullah, ER Eswaran and Jegan Moorthi also congratulated the duo.
Following them, Chief Minister MK Stalin congratulated the newly-elected leaders. During his address, he assured, “We (DMK) have the power to confront ideas with ideas. There will be no arrogance but there will be a democracy. I want to make sure that tradition is followed.” He further urged, “Let us all work together to preserve this legislative democracy to build a better future for ourselves and our people.”
During their address, Durai Murugan and Stalin highlighted the significance of the Speaker’s chair.
They stated that the exquisite chair of the Speaker was presented by Lord Willingdon, the governor of Madras presidency and his wife Lady Willingdon to the president of the Madras Legislative Council as a personal gift in 1922.
Later, the newly-elected Speaker and Deputy Speaker thanked the Chief Minister and others for having elected them for the post and assured they will perform with neutrality and in transparent manner.
It may be recalled that Appavu is a four-term MLA from the Radhapuram Assembly constituency in Tirunelveli district and Pitchandi a six-term MLA from Tiruvannamalai and Kilpennathur Assembly constituencies in Tiruvannamalai district.