Senior Cong leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan elected Kerala Assembly Speaker

Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan was elected as the Speaker of the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly with 101 votes, securing a comfortable majority for the Congress-led UDF.

Senior Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan was on Friday elected as the Speaker of the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly.

Radhakrishnan got 101 votes as Pro Tem Speaker G Sudhakaran did not cast his ballot.

With this, Sudhakaran ceases to be the Pro Tem Speaker.

Besides Radhakrishnan, A C Moideen, fielded by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), and BJP's B B Gopakumar were also in the fray for the post even though the Congress-led UDF enjoys a comfortable majority of 102 members in the 140-seat Assembly.

Moideen got 35 votes and Gopakumar received 3 votes.

The LDF has 35 members and the BJP 3, in the House.

While the UDF had announced Radhakrishnan's candidature a few days earlier, the opposition fronts officially unveiled their nominees on Thursday.