Jaipur, Dec 21 (PTI) Senior BJP leader and former minister Vasudev Devnani was on Thursday unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 16th Rajasthan Assembly.
The House passed the proposal by voice vote.
Protem Speaker Kalicharan Saraf asked Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma to move a proposal to elect Devnani as the Speaker, following which Congress leader Sachin Pilot seconded the proposal.
Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot was also asked to approve the proposal, but he was not present in the House.
After that, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje's proposal to this effect was seconded by MLA Rajkumar Roat. Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari's proposal was seconded by MLA Chandrabhan Singh. MLA Hanuman Beniwal's proposal to elect Devnani as the Speaker of the Assembly was seconded by MLA Dr. Subhash Garg.
Later, other MLAs approved the proposal, following which the House passed the proposal to elect Devnani as the Speaker by voice vote.
Chief Minister Sharma, former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Govind Singh Dotasara, Sachin Pilot and other leaders accompanied him to the seat.
The newly elected Assembly Speaker won from Ajmer (North) seat and belongs to the Sindhi community. Devnani, a five-time MLA, is a graduate in engineering. Before entering politics, he was a teacher at the Government Polytechnic College, Udaipur.
In the 16th Legislative Assembly, BJP has 115 MLAs, Congress 69, Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) three, BSP two, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) have one each, eight are independent while one seat is vacant. PTI