Bhubaneswar, June 13: Bikram Keshari Arukh has been elected unopposed as the new speaker of Odisha Vidhan Sabha on Monday here. He becomes the 21st Speaker of the Odisha Assembly.
Arukh was elected Speaker at a special session of the Assembly. The House was adjourned following the election today.
Arukh was tipped to be the next Speaker ever since Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked all his ministers to resign on June 4 and a new council of 21 ministers was sworn in on June 5.
Arukh was Forest & Environment Minister in the outgoing ministry and six-time MLA from Bhanjanagar constituency.
Bhanjanagar is a Vidhan Sabha Constituency of Ganjam district of Odisha State. Area of this constituencies includes Bhanjanagar, Bhanjanagar block and Jagannathaprasad block. From 1957 to 2019 15 elections held in this consttuency.
Arukh is a 6 time victorious leader of this assembly seat till the last General Election held in 2019. During the 1995 election Arukh won the seat under Janata Dal Party of Late CM Biju Patnaik. Below the table shows the last assembly election Vote share as follows:
Below is the List of members elected from Bhanjanagar constituency:
The 147 Assembly seats of Odisha has now 113 members of ruling Biju janata Dal, while the opposition BJP and Congress have 22 and 9 members respectively.
Earlier on June 4, Surjya Narayan Patro has resigned as Speaker of Odisha Vidhan Sabha. His son Biplab Patro, however, said that his father quit on health grounds.
