Mizoram’s ruling Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) MLA Lalbiakzama was on Tuesday was elected Speaker of the Assembly unopposed.
Lalbiakzama, 58, was elected to the Assembly for the first time from the Chalfilh constituency in Saitual district in the November 7 polls.
Pro-tem Speaker Lalfamkima, who conducted the Speaker’s election on the first day of the newly constituted 9th Mizoram Assembly, said that the opposition did not nominate any candidate for the post of the Speaker.
Before the Speaker’s elections, the Pro-tem Speaker administered the oath to the newly-elected members of the house.
After sitting in the Speaker’s chair, Lalbiakzama told the house that he would maintain impartiality in running the house. He also urged the members of the house to maintain decorum and follow the rules and procedure of the house to ensure that the reputation of Mizoram assembly as one of the finest legislatures in the country.
He also requested the members to refrain from attacking others on personal grounds.
Chief Minister and leader of the house Lalduhoma, Leader of Opposition Lalchhandama Ralte of Mizo National Front (MNF), Home Minister K Sapdanga, BJP Legislature Party Leader K. Beichhua, and lone Congress legislator C Ngunlianchunga congratulated Lalbiakzama for his election as the Speaker.
Lalbiakzama, a businessman-turned-politician, unsuccessfully contested the Assembly elections in 2003 and 2013 on Zoram Nationalist Party tickets.
Of the 40 members of the assembly, 23 have been elected for the first time. Twenty of them are from the ZPM, two from the MNF and one from the BJP.
Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati would deliver his customary speech in the House on Wednesday.
The ZPM led by Lalduhoma defeated the MNF-led government securing 27 seats in the 40-member Assembly, while the MNF, led by former Chief Minister Zoramthanga, bagged only 10 seats while the BJP got two. Once a dominant party ruling the mountainous state for about 22 years after it became a full-fledged state in 1987, the Congress could manage just a single seat in the elections.
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