Dehradun:
The Congress government in Uttarakhand has won its first trial of strength today. The party's Govind Singh Kunjwal, a close confidant of Union Minister Harish Rawat, has been elected as the new Speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly.
The BJP too had fielded MLA Harbans Kapoor for the post.
This was the first time that elections for the post of Speaker were held in the 12-year-old hill state.
Congress has already claimed the support of 39 MLAs in the House of 70 where the BJP has the strength of only 31.
During the filing of nominations before Principal Secretary in the Assembly D P Gairola, Mr Kunjwal was accompanied by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and all Congress MLAs besides Mr Rawat, who made his first appearance in the state ever since he lost the race for chief ministership to Mr Bahuguna.
Earlier, except S S Negi, 10 remaining Congress MLAs were administered oath by Pro-Tem Speaker Shailendra Mohan Singhal in his chamber giving much-needed relief to the Bahuguna government ahead of the election of the Speaker.
Talking to reporters, Mr Bahuguna later said there are no fissures in Uttarakhand Congress and all MLAs are united.
Mr Rawat also expressed similar views and said the government would complete its five-year term.