Ashok Bhatt elected Speaker of Gujarat Assembly

Gandhinagar, Jan 18 : Senior BJP legislator Ashok Bhatt was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly here today.

Former Health and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bhatt's candidature was supported by both the BJP and the Congress.

Thanking them all, Bhatt said, he will try his best to uphold the Parliamentary tradition and would be impartial while conducting the House proceedings.

Bhatt's name was proposed by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Amit Shah, which was supported by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress party's leader of the opposition Shakti Singh Gohil and other members of the House.

Modi's close aide was unanimously elected by a voice vote as no other nomination was filed.

Pro-tem Speaker Dolatram Desai initiated the procedure of voting.

Bhatt is the 14th Speaker of the Assembly since 1960 when the State came into existence. Babubhai Patel was the 13th Speaker.

Since 1975, Bhatt has been consecutively elected from Khadia Assembly seat in Ahmedabad. This is the eighth time that he has been elected to the 182-member Assembly.

ANI