Kishore Mohanty elected Orissa Legislative Assembly Speaker

Bhubaneswar, Aug 19 (UNI) Ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA Kishore Mohanty was today elected as Speaker of the Orissa Legislative Assembly.

Mr Mohanty, who represents the Jharsuguda Assembly Constituency, was elected unopposed as neither the main Opposition Congress nor the other Opposition parties fielded any candidate for the post.

Mr Mohanty was elected after a motion, moved by state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty, and supported by Revenue Minister Mamohan Samal, was passed in the Assembly by a voice vote.

The Opposition Congress members, however, as announced earlier, boycotted the election process on the ground that they were not consulted by the ruling party on the issue.

The Speaker's post was lying vacant after Mr Maheswar Mohanty resigned on March 31 in the wake of sexual harassment allegations levelled by suspended Orissa Assembly lady marshal Gayatri Panda in an FIR filed in the Mahila police station.

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