Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ramesh Tawadkar was today elected the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, defeating the Congress candidate by a comfortable margin. While Tawadkar got 24 votes, Congress nominee Nuvem MLA Aleixo Sequeira secured 15 votes. With Tawadkar’s election, Goa has got its first Speaker from the Scheduled Tribe category.
The BJP, which has 20 seats in the assembly, got two votes from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three from independents while the Congress candidate received the backing of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Goa Forward Party and Revolutionary Goans Party besides their own MLAs.
Tawadkar is a former minister and a leader of the BJP’s Scheduled Tribe Morcha. He represents the Canacona constituency and was elected for the third consecutive term this year. He was earlier elected to the Goa Assembly in 2007 and 2012. Previously, Tawadkar had served as the minister of agriculture, sports and tribal affairs between 2012 and 2017.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and former CM and senior Congress MLA Digambar Kamat escorted Tawadkar to the Chair after the election.
Tawadkar expressed his gratitude to the members after being elected as Speaker and added that he has been fortunate enough to get the cooperation of many people to bring about a change in the lives of Goa’s tribal population and to address the issues faced by them. He said that those who have supported him have also honoured his community and his constituency.
Congress candidate Sequeira also congratulated Tawadkar. MGP leader Ramkrishna alias Sudin Dhavalikar described Tawadkar as the ‘Bhumiputra (son of the soil)’.
In the 40-member Goa assembly, the BJP won 20 seats, Congress 11, MGP and AAP two each, GFP and RGP one each while three seats were bagged by independents. With the support of two MGP and three independents, the BJP enjoys a comfortable majority in the Goa assembly.