Assembly Speaker Poll During Winter Session: Maharashtra Congress Chief

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Friday said election for the post of Assembly Speaker will be held by voice vote during the winter session, scheduled to begin from December 22.

A Congress legislator will be the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) candidate for the post, he told reporters.

The post had fallen vacant when Mr Patole resigned to take over as state Congress chief in February this year.

The Congress' decision had not gone down well with other two partners of the MVA, namely, the Shiv Sena and NCP, as it created the necessity for a fresh election for the post.

Mr Patole said a fresh election could not be held till now as the duration of earlier sessions was short owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The election process takes at least three days, he said.

In the coming session, however, the Speaker will be elected by voice vote instead of by ballot, Mr Patole said.

There was nothing wrong with voice vote as the procedure is used in every state legislature and Chairman of the Maharashtra Legislative Council is elected in the same way, he argued.

So far, Speaker's election in Maharashtra Assembly has always been unanimous.

The MVA has 152 members in the 288-member House.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)