Almora MlA Raghunath Singh Chauhan who had defeated Congress’s Manoj Tiwari has been rewarded with the post of the Deputy Speaker. He was unanimously elected for the post on Tuesday.
As the House assembled on the third day of the ongoing budget session the Speaker Premchand Aggarwal said that he had received 10 nominations for the post of the Deputy Speaker with all the nominations recommending Raghunath Singh Chouhan. However, the leader of the opposition Indira Hridayesh said that the post should be given to the opposition in sync with the tradition of parliamentary democracy. The treasury bench MlAs opposed her, saying that the Congress after assuming office in 2012 had not cared to act as per the tradition and foisted a Congress MlA on the post.
However, unfazed by the argument going against the present Opposition party, the Congress MlA Qazi Nizamuddin asked the ruling party MlAs to fall in line while invoking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had given the same chair in the lok Sabha to an opposition MP.
later, the State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant said that with the Opposition giving no nomination for the post, it was useless wasting time on it.
After the Deputy Speaker was elected the Speaker appealed to the former Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pant to escort Chouhan to the chair meant for the Deputy Speaker.
Chouhan in his speech assured the House that he would not be found wanting as far as maintaining the decorum of the House was concerned.
Citing the unruly scenes witnessed in the previous House, he said that he would make sure that things would not repeat in the present House.