Guwahati: Thomas Sangma was chosen as the 11th Meghalaya Assembly’s Speaker without any opposition on Thursday.
Sangma was elected without opposition, although none of the candidates from the three opposing parties submitted their names.
Protem Speaker Timothy D Shira who chaired the proceedings on the concluding day of the special Assembly session, said, “Since only one nomination paper was received by the office of the Assembly, I hereby declare Thomas A Sangma as Speaker.”
Chief minister Conrad K. Sangma congratulated the newly elected Speaker and expressed his confidence in the former lawmaker’s ability to fulfil the duties of the office.
He said to the newly elected Speaker, “It is a matter of great happiness to see you occupy the Speaker’s chair.”
The MDA 2.0 government, which took the oath, previously this week, has the support of 45 MLAs, of which 26 are from the National People’s Party (NPP), 11 of the United Democratic Party (UDP) and two members each of the BJP, the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and the People’s Democratic Front (PDF), besides two Independent legislators.
The leader of the National People’s Party Conrad Sangma sworn in earlier on Tuesday in Shillong to serve as the chief minister of Meghalaya for a second term in a row.
At the swearing-in ceremony, attendees included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP leader J P Nadda and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
In order to participate in the swearing-in ceremony, the PM also travelled to Guwahati.
It should be noted that in the just completed Northeast assembly elections, the BJP maintained power on its own in Tripura with the assistance of its ally NDPP in Nagaland.
Thomas A. Sangma was elected to the Upper House of India Parliament, the Rajya Sabha for the term of 2008-2014 from Nationalist Congress Party. He is from the ruling National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) coalation.