Kerala Assembly includes all-women speakers' panel

The reform has been initiated by the newly-elected speaker A N Shamseer of the CPI(M)

For the first time in history of the Kerala Assembly, only women have been included in a panel of speakers to chair the house in the absence of the speaker or deputy speaker.

The reform, to include the panel, which is appointed for the session that began on Monday, has been initiated by the newly-elected speaker A N Shamseer of the CPI(M).

The three-member panel included U Pratibha from the CPI(M) and C K Asha from CPI, both from the ruling left front. The panel also included K K Rema of the Revolutionary Marxist Party from the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).

Sources said that so far only 32 women were there in the 515 members included in the panels of speakers over the years. In the 140-member Kerala Assembly, there are only 12 women members now.

Meanwhile, the inclusion of Rema in the panel assumed much significance as she had been strongly attacking Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over various issues in the house. Rema is the wife of dissident CPI(M) leader T P Chandrasekharan, who was murdered by a gang of the party's local leaders in 2012.