Kunjwal elected Uttarakhand Speaker

Congress MLA Govind Singh Kunjwal was today elected the new Speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly after defeating BJP's Harbans Kapoor by 8 votes in what is being seen as a major victory for Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna ahead of the trust vote.

Kunjwal, 67, who scored a hat-trick in recent Assembly elections, got 39 votes and Kapoor bagged 31 votes from the total 70 votes polled, protem Speaker Shailendra Mohan Singhal informed the House.

His victory looked certain as Congress, which has a strength of 32 in the house of 70, had already mustered the support of 7 non-BJP MLAs.

All the three independents, Pritam Singh Panwar, the lone member of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and three members of the BSP voted in favour of Kunjwal.

Kunjwal, an MLA from Jageshwar in Almora district and a staunch supporter of union minister Harish Rawat, pledged to maintain the sanctity of the house and said he would work without any bias.

"I assure you that I will treat all the members equally and maintain the sanctity of the house," the former horticulture minister in the N D Tiwari government during 2002-07 said.
Earlier in the day, Bahuguna made a passionate plea to the opposition BJP to withdraw the candidate for the Speaker in lines of the with the highest traditions of the democracy.
However, BJP remained adamant and pressed for voting which began around 1230 hours. After more than one hour, the protem speaker declared the results in the house.

Congratulating the Speaker, Bahuguna hoped that the new speaker would maintain the highest standards of democracy and said he expects the speaker to leave imprints which would become an example in the state. "I am sure that you are able to earn confidence of both the ruling and opposition benches," Bahuguna said.