The Hindu : New Delhi News : Prem Singh set to become Speaker

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Prem Singh set to become Speaker

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 19 . Senior Congress leader and party MLA from Ambedkar Nagar, Chaudhary Prem Singh, is all set to become the Speaker of the Delhi Assembly for the second time. Similarly the Janata Dal (S) leader and Matia Mahal MLA, Shoaib Iqbal, will be the new Deputy Speaker of the Assembly. The election of the Speaker will be held on Tuesday when the Assembly meets for the Budget session.

Accompanied by the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and her Cabinet colleagues, Mr. Singh filed his nomination papers on Monday. The Secretary of the Vidhan Sabha, Siddharth Rao, who is also the Returning Officer for the election, received the papers. The Opposition BJP has fielded former Minister S.P. Ratawal as its candidate. Mr. Ratawal does not stand a chance in view of the huge majority the Congress enjoys in the 70-member House.

Mr. Singh's name was formally cleared by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, late on Sunday night and he immediately resigned as the president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. Ms. Gandhi has accepted the resignation of Mr. Singh from the DPCC post. Mr. Singh had held the office of the Speaker from December 12, 1998 to June 3, 2003.

A total of ten sets of nomination papers were filed for Mr. Singh and two sets for Mr. Ratawal. The Chief Minister along with the party Chief Whip, Ramakant Goswami, filed the first set of nominations for Mr. Singh followed by other Ministers including Finance Minister, A.K. Walia, Development Minister, Raj Kumar Chauhan, Health Minister, Yoganand Shastri, Education Minister, Arvinder Singh Lovely, and the Industry Minister, Mangat Ram Singhal.

On the other hand, the Congress leadership fulfilling its commitment made to Mr. Iqbal before the Lok Sabha polls has decided to back his candidature for the post of the Deputy Speaker. The Congress leadership including the AICC leader, Ahmed Patel, Member of Parliament from Chandni Chowk, Kapil Sibal, and the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, had made a commitment to Mr. Iqbal that the Congress would ensure his election as the Deputy Speaker in lieu of his support for Mr. Sibal's candidature in the Parliamentary polls. Although some Congress leaders including MLAs had resented this move, the party leadership has decided to fulfil its commitment. The date for the election of the Deputy Speaker would be decided after the installation of the new Speaker tomorrow. A large number of supporters of Mr. Singh had gathered during the filing of his nomination papers.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi