J&K: Veteran NC Leader Abdul Rahim Rather Elected Legislative Assembly Speaker

Abdul Rahim Rather, a veteran politician, was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, marking the resumption of Assembly sessions after a six-year hiatus.

Rather (80) was elected the speaker with a voice vote (Image: X/ANI)

Source : ANI

Veteran National Conference leader and seven-time MLA from Charar-e-Sharief Abdul Rahim Rather was on Monday elected the first speaker of the legislative assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Rather (80) was elected the speaker with a voice vote after the opposition parties decided against contesting for the post. Protem Speaker Mubarak Gul conducted the election.

VIDEO | "Honourable speaker (Abdul Rahim Rather), I would like to congratulate you on behalf of the whole House. You were probably the natural choice to take responsibility for this post... You have served the people by sometimes being in the party and sometimes by being in the… pic.twitter.com/ASzvN0DzZC

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 4, 2024

Minister for Agriculture Javed Ahmad Dar moved a motion to name Rather for the post of speaker, while NC's MLA Ramban Arjun Singh Raju seconded the motion on the first day of the five-day session.

#WATCH | Srinagar, J&K: Senior NC MLA Abdul Rahim Rather elected as the Speaker of J&K Assembly.

CM Omar Abdullah and Protem Speaker Mubarak Gul congratulate him as he takes his Chair in the House. pic.twitter.com/o1dFcnr0Ia

— ANI (@ANI) November 4, 2024

After his election, Rather was escorted to the chair by the Leader of the House Omar Abdullah, and Leader of Opposition, BJP's Sunil Sharma.

Rather had earlier held the post of the speaker in the legislative assembly of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. He was also the leader of the opposition from 2002 to 2008 when the PDP-Congress coalition government ruled the state.

The House met after a gap of more than six years, with the last session held in early 2018, a year before the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)