New Delhi, Rahul Narvekar, a first-time BJP MLA, has been elected as the new Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Sunday (July 3, 2022). Narvekar, who secured 164 votes during the special two-day session of the assembly that began at 11 am on Sunday, defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who could garner only 107 votes. He became the youngest Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the country at the age of 45.
In February 2021, Congress’s Nana Patole resigned to become the president of his party’s state unit, the post of the Speaker was lying vacant since then. During this, Deputy Speaker Narhari Jirwal was acting as the Acting Speaker.
Here are some things you should know about Rahul Narvekar:
- He is the sitting MLA from Colaba Assembly Constituency, Mumbai. Narvekar is the son-in-law of NCP leader Ramraje Nimbalkar, who is the chairman of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. His father Suresh Narvekar was a Municipal Councilor from Colaba, Mumbai.
- It is interesting to note that he was earlier associated with the Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena. This was before joining BJP in 2019.
- His political career formed during his days in Shiv Sena, starting with the youth wing of the party, Yuva Sena. He left Shiv Sena in 2014.
- Narvekar left the Shiv Sena after the party due to the inaccessibility of the party’s top leaders, which may be a reference to Uddhav Thackeray.
- After his stint in Shiv Sena, he joined NCP and contested Lok Sabha elections, but lost to Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Appa Barne from Maval constituency.
- He had joined BJP from Colaba before the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections. He won the Colaba assembly seat by defeating Ashok Jagtap of INC.
Narvekar has been elected as the president a day before the four-day-old Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP government faces a floor test on July 4.
(with agency input)