Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan elected speaker of Kerala Assembly

New Delhi ( Raghwendra Pratap Singh) :

Thiruvananthapuram Veteran Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan was elected Speaker of the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly on Friday.

Radhakrishnan, 76, is an eight-time MLA and the senior-most Congress legislator in the current Assembly. In the election to the Speaker’s post, Radhakrishnan secured 101 votes, while AC Moideen of the CPI(M) received 35 votes and BJP’s BB Gopakumar got three votes.

The election of Radhakrishnan as Speaker was a foregone conclusion as the Congress-led UDF has a brute majority of 102 in the 140-member Assembly. Pro tem Speaker G Sudhakaran, who presided over the proceedings, did not cast his vote.

After his election, Radhakrishnan was escorted to the Speaker’s dais by chief minister VD Satheesan and leader of opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, in keeping with Assembly tradition.