JOIN USAAP's Dhir is new Speaker in House
Aam Aadmi Party’s Maninder Singh Dhir was elected as the new speaker of Delhi Assembly on Friday. Dhir replaced pro-tem Speaker Mateen Ahmad after the election.
He bagged 37 votes, including votes JDU MLA Shoaib Iqbal and independent MLA Ramveer Shaukeen, against BJP candidate Jagdish Mukhi’s 32 votes. Leader of House and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Leader of Opposition Harsh Vardhan escorted Dhir to the chair of Speaker.
After the formalities, Harsh Vardhan greeted Dhir and expressed hope that his decisions will be unbiased. The BJP leaders, however, said any election for the post of speaker could have been averted if the chief minister spoke about fielding his candidate.
“There is a tradition that the speaker should be elected unanimously by all of the parties. But the new Leader of the House, Kejriwal, never bothered to discuss his plans of fielding a candidate for the speaker’s post with the Leader of Opposition Harsh Vardhan,” said BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi.
Mukhi and all of the BJP legislators blamed Kejriwal for provoking the party to field a candidate against Dhir, which led to an election and wastage of time.
“It is not just about discussing the election of the speaker, Kejriwal will need our support in coming times on many other issues. If the House unanimously supports an issue then what is the need of voting? He should have discussed the issues with the leader of opposition,” he said.
Congress leader Harun Yusuf also greeted the new speaker.
In response to the statements of BJP’s legislators, Education Minister Manish Sisodia said, “I hope the legislators will remember the people who voted them in to power in coming days. I would like to request the leaders that no precious time of the Assembly shall be wasted.
”
“No redundant issues shall be discussed so every moment of the Assembly’s time shall be used in the welfare of people. If all of us find any tradition useless and time-consuming, it shall be amended. All of us shall understand that the ordinary citizen is supreme,” he added.
BJP leader S S Chouhan, announced two notifications passed by the Assembly.
He greeted Harsh Vardhan for being appointed as the leader of opposition and AAP’s Jagdip Singh Dhir for his appointment as his party’s chief whip.
At the end of the day, Dhir expressed gratitude towards all of the legislators and adjourned the Assembly till 11 am on Saturday.