Ramanlal Vora elected unopposed new Speaker of Gujarat Assly

Gandhinagar, Aug 22 (PTI) Ramanlal Vora, a prominent BJPDalit leader was today elected unopposed as the Speaker ofGujarat Assembly, while senior BJP MLA Shambhuji Thakor wonthe election for Deputy Speaker’s post, defeating Congress’sChandrikaben Bariya. Vora, who held the Social Justice and Empowermentportfolio before resigning recently, is a prominent Dalit faceof BJP in Gujarat, and has been elected as the MLA for fiveconsecutive terms since 1995. All through he was a minister. On the first day of the monsoon session today, Vora’sname was proposed for the Speaker’s post by Chief MinisterVijay Rupani. Leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghelaendorsed it on behalf of Congress and other parties. Vora is the third Speaker of the House since the 2012Assembly polls. Voice vote was needed for the election of Deputy Speaker,as Congress, despite not having the numbers, fielded MLA andtribal leader Chandrikaben Bariya against BJP’s ShambhujiThakor, an OBC MLA. As BJP enjoys majority with 120 seats out of total 182,Thakor was elected through a voice vote. The elections were necessitated as the previous SpeakerGanpat Vasava was inducted into Rupani’s cabinet as a Ministerfor Tourism, Tribal welfare and Forests, while Deputy SpeakerAtmaram Parmar also joined the ministry as Social Justice andEmpowerment Minister. Rupani became the Chief Minister, replacing AnandibenPatel, on August 1, leading to the reshuffle. PTI PJT PD KRKRG