Defeats Opposition candidate Alexio Sequeira by 24-15
RGP & AAP supported the Congress candidate Sequeira
Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: BJP Canacona MLA Ramesh Tawadkar was elected as the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly. Tawadkar defeated his Congress’s Aleixo Sequeira by 24-15 votes.
Protem Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar conducted the elections for the Speaker on the very first day of the first assembly session of the new assembly.
Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supported the Congress candidate and voted in favour of Alexio Sequeira.
Tawadkar is a former physical education teacher and served as Goa’s Sports and Agriculture Minister from 2012-to 2017.
The ruling and the Opposition congratulated Tawadkar for being elected to the post of Speaker.
Tawadkar thanked all the MLAs for electing him the Speaker of the House.
On Monday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was administered the oath of office by Governor P.S Sreedharan Pillai and eight other ministers.
The BJP has won 20 seats in the February 14 polls, just one short of a majority in the 40- member state Assembly. It also has the support of five other MLAs, three independents, and two from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.
The practice of holding the Speaker’s election by secret ballot was discontinued in the Goa legislative assembly after the infamous 1994 episode in which the secret ballot was abandoned midway.
Counting of the votes was abruptly stopped by the then pro-tem Speaker Somnath Zuwarkar when it emerged that the Opposition-sponsored candidate, Surendra Sirsat, was gaining over the ruling Congress-sponsored Tomazinho Cardozo, and a voice-vote election was held.
The House’s rules of conduct of business were amended to do away with the provision that mandated the Speaker’s election to be held by a secret ballot.
