Gujarat’s former State minister Shankar Chaudhary set to become next Assembly Speaker
The Hindu
Shankar Chaudhary and Jethabhai Bharwad have been declared as candidates for the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat on Thursday declared Shankar Chaudhary and Jethabhai Bharwad as its candidates for the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively, of the newly-formed 15th State legislative Assembly.
An official notification issued by the Assembly secretariat said the new Assembly will meet for the first time for a day on December 20, and election for the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be held in the first half, while other businesses will be taken up in the second half.
Another notification said that all the newly-elected MLAs will be administered the oath of office in the Assembly on December 19 by Protem Speaker Yogesh Patel.
In the just-concluded Assembly elections, the BJP retained power by winning 156 out of the total 182 seats, while the Congress bagged only 17 seats. The remaining seats went to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), independents and the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Considering the numbers, both Mr. Chaudhary and Mr. Bharwad are all set to win the respective posts in case an election takes place. Speakers are generally elected unopposed. Mr. Chaudhary, who represents the Tharad seat in Banaskantha district, had served as a Minister in the governments led by Anandiben Patel and Vijay Rupani between 2014 and 2017. Mr. Chaudhary had lost Assembly elections in 2017 from Vav seat.
Mr. Bharwad, a six-time MLA from Shehra Assembly seat of Panchmahal district, had served as the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly for a year between 2021 and 2022 in the 14th Assembly.
While Mr. Bharwad is the chairman of Panchmahal Dairy, Mr. Chaudhary heads Banas Dairy.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.