SENIOR Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan was on Friday elected as the Speaker of the 16th Keralam Legislative Assembly. Radhakrishnan got 101 votes as Pro Tem Speaker G Sudhakaran did not cast his ballot. With this, Sudhakaran, a former CPI(M) leader who won as an Independent candidate from Ambalapuzha constituency with UDF support, ceases to be the Pro-Tem Speaker. A C Moideen, fielded by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), and BJP’s B B Gopakumar were also in the fray for the post even though the Congress-led UDF enjoys a comfortable majority of 102 members in the 140-seat Assembly.

 

Moideen got 35 votes and Gopakumar received 3 votes. The LDF has 35 members and the BJP 3, in the House. “Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan is a veteran political leader with great experience in political and parliamentary field. He is a former Home Minister who is simple and accessible to all. “He is declared elected as Speaker of the 16th Keralam Legislative Assembly. I wish him all success. My entrusted job as Pro Tem Speaker is over and I thank the whole House for its cooperation,” Sudhakaran said. Following his election as Speaker, all the MLAs went to Radhakrishnan and congratulated him. After that, Chief Minister

 

V D Satheesan, holding hands with Radhakrishnan, and opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan, led him from his seat in the House to the Speaker’s chair that was vacated by Sudhakaran. After giving a hug to Radhakrishnan, Sudhakaran walked to his seat in the House. After Radhakrishnan took charge as Speaker, Satheesan congratulated him. In his congratulatory speech in the House, Satheesan said that Radhakrishnan has experience of three decades in the Assembly.