New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) two-time MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan was unanimously elected Speaker of the 16th Punjab Assembly on Monday. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had proposed the name of Sandhwan in the House on Monday, as reported by news agency ANI.
Mann also congratulated Sandhwan on being elected Speaker of the Assembly. He urged the Speaker to allow live telecast of the proceedings of the House.
Among the opposition MLAs, Congress MLA Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Ashwani Sharma, Congress MLA Pratap Singh Bajwa, and Sukhpal Singh Khaira also congratulated Sandhwan.
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Opposition members expressed the hope that the Speaker would give them an equal opportunity to raise public issues in the House.
Sandhwan (46) defeated Congress candidate Ajaypal Singh Sandhu by a margin of 21,130 votes in the Punjab Assembly elections and won from the Kotkapura Assembly seat.
He is the grandson of former President Giani Zail Singh and succeeds former Speaker Rana K P Singh.
In Punjab, the Bhagwant Mann-led cabinet on Saturday included ten Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, including a woman. Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to 10 ministers in a ceremony held at Guru Nanak Dev Auditorium of Punjab Raj Bhavan.
All of them took oath in the Punjabi language. With the exception of Harpal Singh Cheema and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, eight others have become MLAs for the first time. MLA Cheema from Dirba first took an oath, followed by the lone woman in the cabinet and MLA Dr. Baljit Kaur from Malout.