Gandhinagar, Feb 16 (IANS) Surat West Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former Gujarat Minister Purnesh Modi was on Monday elected Deputy Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly on the opening day of the Budget session.

Purnesh Modi’s candidature was proposed by veteran BJP leader Jitu Vaghani.

The Congress fielded Shailesh Parmar for the post, with his name proposed by party MLA Dinesh Thakor.

The motion backing Purnesh Modi was put to a voice vote in the Assembly House, where the BJP holds a majority, and was carried with a clear margin.

The official announcement of Purnesh Modi’s election was subsequently made by the Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary.

Gujarat Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rushikesh Patel then escorted Purnesh Modi to his seat beside the Leader of the Opposition.

Following obituary references, the Assembly House took up the election of the Deputy Speaker.

Participating in the discussion, Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar said that, in keeping with parliamentary convention, the Deputy Speaker’s post should be offered to a member of the Opposition.

He alleged that the BJP had departed from established practice by using its numerical strength to secure the position.

Shailesh Parmar also raised concerns over what he described as inadequate representation of Opposition members in key committees, including the Public Accounts Committee, in Gujarat.

After being declared elected, Purnesh Modi expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President Nitin Nabin, BJP General Secretary (Organisation) B.L. Santhosh, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and State BJP President Jagdish Vishwakarma for reposing confidence in him.

“They (BJP) trusted me and gave me (Purnesh Modi) the opportunity to contest for this constitutional post,” the Surat West BJP MLA said.

Members of the Treasury benches raised slogans in support of Purnesh Modi following the announcement.

The Aam Aadmi Party did not support either candidate — Purnesh Modi of the BJP nor Shailesh Parmar from the Congress for the Deputy Speaker’s post in Gujarat Assembly.

Dediyapada AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava said the party chose not to participate in the voting process as the outcome was evident in advance and to ensure that any possible cross-voting within the Congress did not affect it.

Earlier on Monday, House proceedings commenced with the customary address by Governor Acharya Devvrat.

However, Congress MLAs raised slogans during the speech, pressing demands that included a farm loan waiver, an end to outsourcing in government departments, permanent recruitment in state services, and on illegal sale of liquor and drugs.

–IANS

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