NCP MLA Dilip Walse-Patil is Maharashtra Assembly Pro-Tem Speaker

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Mumbai: Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Dilip Walse-Patil will be the Pro-Tem Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and will preside over a special session of the house called on Saturday, officials said here on Friday.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who was sworn-in on Thursday, will have to prove his majority in the house by December 3.

The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress alliance, may also be required to face a floor-test soon, most likely on Saturday.

The MVA has now claimed a total of over 170 legislators in support and is expected to sail through the floor test easily, MVA leaders said.

On November 26, Governor BS Koshyari had appointed a Pro-Tem Speaker to conduct the swearing-in ceremony of the 287 newly-appointed legislators, which was completed smoothly, as per the orders of the Supreme Court.