Six-time MLA and former Minister Pramila Mallick on Friday became the first woman Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
The BJD legislator was elected unopposed as opposition BJP and Congress didn’t field any candidate for the election.
Mallick had on Thursday resigned from the post of Revenue and Disaster Management Minister and filed nomination for the Speaker’s election.
Being the first woman Speaker of the Assembly, she has begun conducting the Monsoon Session of the Assembly, which began on Friday.
Mallick, MLA from the Binjharpur (SC) Assembly seat, had first held the position of Women and Child Development Minister in the Naveen Patnaik Government.
She was also the Chief Whip of the ruling BJD in the Assembly before being inducted as the Revenue and Disaster Management Minister.
The Speaker post had been vacant since May 12 after Speaker Bikram Keshari Aarukha resigned from the post and was later inducted into the Cabinet as Finance Minister.
