Chaudhary elected new Bihar assembly Speaker

Senior Janata Dal (United) MLA from Imamganj Udai Narain Chaudhary was on Wednesday unanimously elected Speaker of the 14th Bihar assembly.

Chaudhary is the first Dalit leader to occupy the august office.

His election was announced by Protem Speaker Bhola Singh after a resolution to this effect moved by Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav and seconded by Revenue and Land Reforms Minister Ramnath Thakur was cleared unanimously.

Nine set of nomination papers were submitted on behalf of Chaudhary to Assembly Secretary Brij Kishore Singh Prabhat on Tuesday, which included those from Rashtriya Janata Dal Legislature Party leader and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, Energy minister Vijendra Prasad Yadav (JD-U) and Road Construction minister N K Yadav.

Others who submitted their nominations were Maheshwar Singh of the Lok Janshakti Party, Rajendra Singh of the Communist Party of India, Ramdeo Verma (CPI-Marxist) and Awadhesh Singh (Congress).

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already made it clear that as per convention, the post of Deputy Speaker will go to the opposition.