Thiruvananthapuram | Senior Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan was on Friday elected as the Speaker of the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly.
Radhakrishnan got 101 votes as Pro Tem Speaker G Sudhakaran did not cast his ballot.
With this, Sudhakaran, a former CPI(M) leader who won as an independent candidate from Ambalapuzha constituency with UDF support, ceases to be the Pro Tem Speaker.
A C Moideen, fielded by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), and BJP's B B Gopakumar were also in the fray for the post even though the Congress-led UDF enjoys a comfortable majority of 102 members in the 140-seat Assembly.
Moideen got 35 votes and Gopakumar received 3 votes.
The LDF has 35 members and the BJP 3, in the House.
"Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan is a veteran political leader with great experience in political and parliamentary field. He is a former Home Minister who is simple and accessible to all.
"He is declared elected as Speaker of the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly. I wish him all success. My entrusted job as Pro Tem Speaker is over and I thank the whole House for its cooperation," Sudhakaran said.
Following his election as Speaker, all the MLAs went to Radhakrishnan and congratulated him.
After that, Chief Minister V D Satheesan, holding hands with Radhakrishnan, and opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan, led him from his seat in the House to the Speaker's chair that was vacated by Sudhakaran.
After giving a hug to Radhakrishnan, Sudhakaran walked to his seat in the House.
After Radhakrishnan took charge as Speaker, Satheesan congratulated him.
In his congratulatory speech in the House, Satheesan said that Radhakrishnan has experience of three decades in the assembly.
The CM also spoke about the senior Congress leader's years of experience in Kerala's political sphere from his days as a student leader and then the various departments he had taken care of as a minister.
Vijayan also congratulated Radhakrishnan and agreed with Satheesan's words about his political and administrative experience.
The opposition leader also said that he expects the Speaker will work as the guardian of the House and the collective voice of the Assembly.
"The Speaker can only become the collective voice of the House by acknowledging the voice of the opposition. The opposition strongly believes that the newly elected Speaker will function in a democratic manner," Vijayan said.
He assured the Speaker of all support from the side of the opposition.
Besides them, Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty, CPI leader K Rajan and other members, including BJP MLA Rajeev Chandrasekhar also delivered speeches congratulating Radhakrishnan.
Chandrasekhar, while congratulating the Speaker on behalf of the BJP-NDA, its 3 MLAs and the people who elected them, requested that everyone be allowed to participate in the House proceedings.
"We all should be allowed to present in the House the problems of the people who elected us. We assure you of our complete support," he said.
Radhakrishnan (76), who hails from Thiruvanchoor in Kottayam district of Kerala, began his politcal life as a student activist in the All Kerala Balajanasakhyam and then rose to the leadership position in the Kerala Students Union (KSU) -- the student outfit of the Congress -- in the 1960s.
He then became the state president of the Youth Congress -- the youth wing of the Congress -- and held the post of general secretary in the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) for several years.
Radhakrishnan was elected as an MLA for the first time in 1991 from Adoor and represented the constituency three more times till 2006.
From 2011 onwards, he has been representing the Kottayam constituency in the assembly.
The Congress veteran has also held 17 ministerial posts, including Home, Revenue, Forests, Health, Parliamentary Affairs, Road Transport and Environment in various UDF administrations.
While the UDF had announced Radhakrishnan's candidature a few days earlier, the opposition fronts officially unveiled their nominees on Thursday.
