BJP's Ramesh Tawadkar elected Speaker of Goa Assembly

Panaji, Mar 29: BJP MLA Ramesh Tawadkar elected as the Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. He defeated Congress candidate Aleixo Sequeira from 24 votes.

A day after Pramod Sawant was sworn in as the chief minister and eight other BJP MLAs took oath as cabinet ministers, Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai had summoned a two-day session of the newly elected 40-member Assembly from Tuesday.

After the Assembly session began, pro-tem Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar moved a motion for the Speaker's election. The ruling BJP fielded Tawadkar while Sequeira was fielded by the opposition Congress, Aam Admi Party and the Revolutionary Goans party. He secured 15 votes.

Chief Minister Sawant and senior House member Digambar Kamat (of the Congress) then escorted Tawadkar to the Speaker's chair.

In the recently-concluded state Assembly polls, the BJP won 20 seats, one short of the majority in the 40-member House. Three independent MLAs and two legislators of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) have extended support to the BJP. The Congress had won 11 seats in the Assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party secured two seats, while the Revolutionary Goans and the Goa Forward party bagged one seat each. PTI