Bhubaneswar: The Assembly unanimously elected Angul MLA Rajani Kant Singh as Deputy Speaker on Thursday.
He is a four-time legislator from the ruling Biju Janata Dal. His candidature was proposed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh supported it.
As he was the lone candidate, Speaker Surjya Narayan Patrao announced the name of Singh as the Deputy Speaker of the 16th Odisha Legislative Assembly.
Chief Minister Patnaik and Leader of Opposition Pradipta Kumar Niak and Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra, besides others accompanied Singh to the Speaker’s chair as the Speaker welcomed his new deputy.
The regional party has won 111 seats in 146-member Assembly in the recently concluded elections in the State. While BJP has won 23 seats Congress managed to get only nine seats.
The Deputy Speaker assists the Speaker in smooth running of the House.
Ministers and members of the Assembly greeted the new Deputy Speaker on his election and expressed confidence that he would run the House successfully and impartially.
Singh was elected to the Assembly from Angul constituency first in 2004 on BJD ticket.
