MP-ASSEMBLY-DEPUTY SPEAKER

Congress MLA Hina Likhiram Kawre

was Thursday elected deputy speaker of the Madhya Pradesh

assembly amid protest by the opposition BJP before the House

was adjourned sine die a day ahead of schedule.

The assembly witnessed din and was adjourned multiple

times after the BJP raised objection over the process followed

by the Chair to elect the 33-year-old woman legislator to the

post.

The main opposition party fielded its lawmaker Jagdish

Devda for the post, but it eventually went to the ruling party

member.

Earlier, assembly speaker N P Prajapati read out four

separat proposals of treasury benches to elect the two-time

legislator Kawre as deputy speaker.

Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava objected to this,

saying his partys proposal to elect Devda, too, should be

read out along with the four proposals.

The Chair agreed to this.

Former assembly speaker Sitasharan Sharma tried to

raise a point of order (objection to the procedure being

adopted to elect deputy speaker) on the issue.

Bhargava and former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh

Chouhan backed Sharma and demanded that the former speaker be

heard.

After Prajapati did not pay heed to the oppositions

demand, BJP members said the House was being run

"undemocratically and unilaterally" right from day one.

The BJP legislators trooped into the Well of the House

and shouted slogans seeking that Sharma, one of their senior

most members, be given a chance to speak.

Amid bedlam, the speaker maintained he had already

honoured Bhargava's demand and read out the five proposals,

and asked the opposition not to hinder the process to elect

deputy speaker.

But his words failed to mollify the opposition and the

speaker adjourned the House two times for 10 minutes each.

After the House reassembled, Kawre was elected deputy

speaker by a voice vote amid pandemonium.

The BJP lawmakers did not relent and continued to stay

put in the Well, leading Prajapati to adjourn the House for a

third time for 10 minutes.

When the House reassembled, the BJP MLAs shouted

slogans against the speaker and accused him of being "unfair".

Rejecting the charge, Prajapati said he was impartial

and respected all members, and asked the opposition not to

nurse any ill feeling against him.

The opposition members said the deputy speaker was

elected without following established rules and maintained

there was no point in Prajapati now giving clarification.

Amid noisy scenes, Prajapati took up the listed

business for the day, including approving the supplementary

budget, and completed it.

The assembly also thanked Governor Anandiben Patel for

her address after which the speaker adjourned the House sine

die a day ahead of schedule.

The newly elected 15th assembly of the state was

originally slated to have a five-day session.