BJP’s Rahul Narvekar was elected the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Sunday.
MaharashtraBJP’s Rahul Narvekar was elected the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Sunday. Narvekar, who secured 164 votes, defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who got 107 votes.
many firsts and surprises
- Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that 45-year-old Narvekar is the youngest Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the country.
- With the election of Narvekar, Maharashtra became the only state in India where the presiding officers of the Legislature are in-laws.
- Narvekar’s father-in-law Ramraje Naik of the NCP is the chairman of the Legislative Council.
- The MLA from Mumbai’s Colaba constituency has been associated with Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party in the past.
- Narvekar, whose brother Makrand is a corporator from Colaba, was the spokesperson of Shiv Sena’s youth wing in its early years. He left that party and joined NCP in 2014.
- Narvekar contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Maval, losing to Shrirang Appa Barne of the Shiv Sena.
- He had joined BJP from Colaba before the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections. He won the Colaba assembly seat by defeating Ashok Jagtap of INC.
- AIMIM MLA Mufti Mohammad Ismail did not attend the session.
- Three MLAs – Rais Sheikh, Abu Azmi (both of the Samajwadi Party) and Shah Farooq (AIMIM) – abstained from voting.
- Congress MLA Pranati Shinde remained absent during the proceedings of the House.
Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray hit out at the Eknath Shinde-led government over tight security arrangements for rebel Shiv Sena MLAs as they were entering the Vidhan Bhawan complex from a luxury hotel nearby. The rebel Shiv Sena MLAs who supported Shinde returned to Mumbai from Goa on Saturday evening and were accommodated in a luxury hotel in south Mumbai. Before the session began, the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde sealed the Legislature Party’s office in Vidhan Bhavan. Shinde took oath as the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday, while BJP veteran Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Deputy CM.
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