Former Minister and five-time Congress MLA U T Khader was unanimously elected as the new Speaker of the new Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. The 53-year-old leader will be the first Muslim leader to serve as Speaker of Karnataka Assembly.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had proposed the name of Khader and it was also agreed to by his deputy DK Shivakumar. Khader had also served as Deputy Leader of Opposition in the previous Assembly.
Since there was no other contender for the post, Protem Speaker RV Deshpande had put up the proposal by the CM to vote, and the House adopted it unanimously.
Deshpande was chosen as the Protem Speaker after the first Cabinet meeting held in Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.
“We are calling the Assembly session for three days — Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we are requesting the Governor, because the new Assembly has to be constituted before May 24. Senior most MLA R V Deshpande has been requested to be the Protem Speaker, to administer oaths to MLAs,” Siddaramaiah had announced.
According to convention, the ruling party’s nominee is elected unanimously as the Speaker.
The Congress party won the Karnataka elections with a massive majority, bagging 135 seats in the 224-member Assembly. The BJP, which was ousted from power, had secured 66 seats.