Five-time BJP MlA Prof Jagdish Mukhi has filed his nomination for the post of Delhi Assembly Speaker, election for which is scheduled for Friday. The AAP has announced the name of its MlA MS Dhir as a candidate for the post of the Speaker.
“The party has decided to contest the post of Speaker and proposed my name. I have filed my nomination papers,” Mukhi said, after filing nomination paper. The Speaker’s and Deputy Speaker’s election will be held a day after the trust vote in the Assembly.
The Kejriwal Government has crossed the first hurdle after winning the vote of confidence and it will have to cross the halfway mark to appoint Speaker of his party.
Earlier, Mukhi, the seniormost legislator in the Assembly, had declined to be the Pro-tem Speaker of Delhi Assembly and so did Janata Dal (United) MlA Shoaib Iqbal. A Pro-tem speaker presides over proceedings relating to taking of oath by new members and other business till the election of Speaker.
In the 70-member Assembly, AAP has 28 MlAs, eight short of a majority required to get its nominee elected. The AAP has the support of 8 MlAs of Congress party. BJP has 31 MlAs while its ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has one.