The Congress government in Uttarakhand on Monday cleared a major hurdle with the election of its candidate Govind Singh Kunjwal as the Speaker of the Assembly by a good margin of eight votes over Bharatita Janata Party nominee Harbans Kapoor ahead of chief minister Vijay Bahuguna’s trust vote.
Mr Kunjwal, 67, who scored a hat-trick in the recent state elections, got 39 votes and Mr Kapoor bagged 31 votes in the 70-member Assembly, protem Speaker Shailendra Mohan Singhal said announced in the House.
His victory looked certain as the Congress, which has a strength of 32, had mustered the support of 7 non-BJP MLAs.
All the three Independents, Pritam Singh Panwar, the lone member of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, and three members of the BSP voted in favour of Mr Kunjwal.
Governor Margaret Alva is scheduled to address the new House on Tuesday and the vote on the motion of thanks for her address is likely the day after, some Congress MLAs said.
Mr Kunjwal, an MLA from Jageshwar in Almora district and a staunch supporter of Union minister Harish Rawat, pledged to maintain the sanctity of the House and said he would function without any bias.
“I assure you that I will treat all the members equally and maintain the sanctity of the House,” said the former horticulture minister in the N.D. Tiwari government during 2002-07.
Earlier in the day, Bahuguna made a strong plea to the Opposition BJP to withdraw the candidate for the Speaker’s post in line with the highest traditions of the democracy.
However, the BJP remained adamant and pressed for a vote.
Congratulating the Speaker, Mr Bahuguna hoped that he would maintain the highest standards of democracy.
“I am sure that you will earn confidence of both the ruling and Opposition benches,” Mr Bahuguna said.