Raipur: BJP leader Gaurishankar Agrawal was elected as Speaker of the new Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly, the first session of which began on Monday. Agrawal, a two-time MLA, was the only candidate to file nomination for the post and was unanimously elected.
Chief Minister Raman Singh, Leader of Opposition T S Singhdeo and other legislators were administered oath by pro-tem Speaker Satyanarayan Sharma during the beginning of the opening day.
Later, the Speaker was elected. In his first address to the House, Speaker Agarwal said with the help of each member of the Assembly, he would try to fulfil the expectations of 2.5 crore people of the state.
Immediately after his election to the post, Raman Singh and Singhdeo congratulated him. Singh also congratulated elected members of the House.
The Raman Singh-led BJP registered a victory for the third straight time by winning 49 of the 90 seats in the recently-concluded Chhattisgarh Assembly election.
The Congress on the other hand managed to win 39 seats. Rest of the two seats went to BSP and an independent each.