First-time MLA Rahul Narvekar was on Sunday elected Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly by defeating Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi. The post of the president was vacant after Congress’ Nana Patole resigned to take over as the party’s state unit chief in February 2021. In the Speaker’s absence, Deputy Speaker Narhari Jirwal was playing the role of an Acting Speaker in the House.
Presidential elections were held after Eknath Shinde, who led the rebellion to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on June 30. The new cabinet of Maharashtra has called a special session of the state assembly. For two days – July 3 and July 4. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that Narvekar is the “youngest speaker” of the country.
Interestingly, Narvekar’s father-in-law Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, who is a member of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), is the chairman of the state legislative council. “Rahul Narvekar is the youngest Speaker of the Legislative Assembly not only in Maharashtra but in the whole country… He is the son-in-law of the Speaker of the Legislative Council, who is from the NCP, Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar. Hence the Speaker of the Legislative Council, Rahul Narvekar is the son-in-law and the Legislative Council Ramraje Naik is the father-in-law of Nimbalkar, the president of the party.”
The new president has been associated with the Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena in the past.
Narvekar (45), a sitting MLA from Colaba, quit Shiv Sena in 2014 and contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as an NCP candidate from Maval constituency. Although, he faced defeat but he was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council and remained its member till 2019. He contested the assembly elections from Colaba seat on a BJP ticket and won. Narvekar (45) got a total of 164 votes in support and 107 went to the Shiv Sena candidate.
During the election of the Speaker, 12 members remained absent and 3 MLAs stayed away from voting. The Shinde-Fadnavis government will have to prove its majority on the floor of the House in a trust vote on Monday in a two-day special session of the Vidhan Sabha starting on Sunday.