Sonepur BJD MlA and former Minister Niranjan Pujari on Saturday filed his nomination papers as the BJD candidate for the post of Speaker of the 15th State Assembly.
Earlier on the day, the ruling party had named Pujari as its nominee for the coveted post. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik proposed his name before the Assembly Secretary while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh seconded the proposal.The Chief Minister also decided to retain Sananda Marndi as the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.
Election for the Speaker, which will be held on Monday, will be a mere formality because Pujari is all set to be elected unopposed in view of the overwhelming majority of the BJD in the Assembly.However, PCC president Jayadev Jena, senior Congress MlA Narasingha Mishra and State BJP president KV Singh Deo said the opposition parties should have been consulted before the ruling party’s selection and announcement of its nominee for the Speaker.
Though the BJD has a massive majority to get its nominee elected, it should have taken the opposition parties into confidence in the matter of choice of Speaker for the sake of “healthy democratic practice”, they stated.