BJP member of the Delhi Assembly from Rohini, Vijender Gupta, was elected as Speaker of the Delhi Assembly on Monday, after a proposal made by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. Opposition AAP members in the House soon disrupted the proceedings, however, and the House was adjourned.
The election was conducted at a session attended by pro-tem Speaker Arvinder Singh Lovely, with Gupta being unanimously elected.
The moment he took office, Speaker Gupta was greeted by AAP legislators' slogan-shouting during the discussion on his election vote of thanks.
In his first speech, he blamed the Leader of Opposition, Atishi, for trying to raise a point without permission, thereby disrupting the session.
"I would like to warn the Opposition not to attempt to spread anarchy. They must allow the proceedings to go on smoothly," he said, criticizing the disruptions.
Earlier, during the presentation of congratulations to the newly-elected Speaker, Atishi accused the authorities of removing pictures of B.R. Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh from the Chief Minister's Office.
Her observations, volunteered without the sanction of the Chair, infuriated the Treasury Benches. To order, the Speaker admonished the LoP for speaking out of turn. When AAP members continued to disrupt proceedings, Speaker Gupta adjourned the House.
CM Gupta and her Council of Ministers had earlier in the day taken the oath as Legislative Assembly members at the beginning of the first session of the House. All legislators elected recently were sworn in in the morning sitting.
The 70-seat Delhi Assembly now comprises 48 members from BJP and 22 members from AAP.
Apart from the Chief Minister, BJP ministers Parvesh Verma, Ashish Sood, Kapil Mishra, Ravinder Singh Indraj, Pankaj Kumar Singh, and Manjinder Singh Sirsa also swore in. AAP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Atishi, were also sworn in during the session.
With her appointment, Rekha Gupta has become the fourth woman to serve as Delhi’s Chief Minister, following in the footsteps of Sheila Dikshit, Sushma Swaraj, and Atishi. She is also the fourth BJP leader to hold the position, succeeding Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma, and Sushma Swaraj.
The first session of the Assembly is scheduled to run for three days.
The proceedings began with BJP MLA Lovely sworn in as pro-tem Speaker, a stopgap position for conducting House work until a full-time Speaker is chosen. He was sworn in by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena at Raj Niwas.
