Thiruvananthapuram |Congress leader Shanimol Osman was on Tuesday elected Deputy Speaker of the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly, becoming the fourth woman to hold the post and the first female Deputy Speaker in the state in 35 years.

Osman, the MLA from Aroor, secured 99 votes in the election held in the Assembly, defeating the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate and CPI MLA Muhammad Muhsin, who received 34 votes.

The Congress-led UDF, which enjoys a comfortable majority in the 140-member House, had little difficulty in securing the Deputy Speaker's post.

Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and the three BJP MLAs did not participate in the voting process.

A lawyer-turned-politician from Alappuzha, Osman is a senior Congress leader who has held several organisational responsibilities in the party.

She has been active in electoral politics for years and currently represents the Aroor Assembly constituency. Osman won the Aroor seat in 2019 assembly bypoll as well.

Members of the ruling and opposition fronts congratulated Osman after the announcement of the results.