Five-Time MLA Kuldeep Singh Pathania Unanimously Elected Speaker Of Himachal Assembly

Pathania submitted his nomination papers to Vidhan Sabha secretary Yash Pal in the presence of senior leaders including HPCC president Pratibha Singh.

Dharamsala: Senior Congress leader and five-time MLA Kuldeep Singh Pathania was on Thursday unanimously elected as Speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.

The election of Pathania, the member from Bhatiyyat in Chamba district, was a foregone conclusion as he was the only candidate in the fray.

Protem Speaker Chander Kumar put the motion before the House and Pathania was elected unanimously. Following his election, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur congratulated Pathania and escorted him to the Speaker's chair.

Pathania is the fourth Speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly to hail from Chamba, following in the footsteps of Jaiwant Ram, Des Raj Mahajan and Tulsi Ram. Born on September 17, 1957, Pathania graduated with degrees in science and law and was first elected to the assembly as a 27-year-old in 1985.

His subsequent elections came in 1993, 2003, 2007 and 2022. He had contested as an Independent in 1993 and 2003.

Addressing the House after his election, Pathania said adequate time and cooperation would be given to members for meaningful discussions on matters related to the state's interests.

Expressing his gratitude to the members, Pathania said 23 first-time MLAs had been elected to the House and apprised them of the rules and conventions. He said Leader of Opposition Thakur had won six consecutive elections while Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri was a five-time MLA and added that the new members would learn a lot from them.

Sukhu said during his address that the House would gain from Pathania's experience as a law expert. He also expressed hope that the new Speaker, who is conversant with rules and regulations, would afford all members the opportunity to speak.

During the nomination process on Wednesday, Sukhu had proposed Pathania's name as Speaker. It was seconded by his predecessor Thakur.

Thakur hoped that the opposition would get protection from the Speaker.

Deputy Chief Minister Agnihotri said Pathania was occupying a chair once adorned by Vithalbhai Patel. He also hailed the new Speaker as a good administrator and orator.

Vipin Singh Parmar, the Speaker of the previous assembly, former deputy Speaker Hans Raj, MLAs Harshwardhan Chauhan, Rohit Thakur, Vikramaditya Singh, Raghuvir Singh Bali, Anil Sharma, Rajesh Dharmani, Kuldeep Singh Rathore, Ram Kumar, Dr Janak Raj and Randhir Sharma also congratulated Pathania. 

 

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