Rahul Narwekar of BJP re elected Speaker of 15th Maharashtra Assembly

Rahul Narwekar of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was re-elected as the 15th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker. Rahul Narwekar, who was the Speaker for two and a half years in the previous 14th Legislative Assembly, was elected unopposed. 

On 6 December, the Governor of Maharashtra, C P Radhakrishnan, administered the oath of Protem Speaker to Kalidas Sulochana Nilkanth Kolambakar. 

The Protem Speaker administered the oath of office to the newly elected 288 members of the assembly and presided over the election of the Speaker of the House.

The special three-day session of the newly constituted 15th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was convened on December 7, 2024. The oath was administered to the recently appointed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his two Deputy Chief Ministers, Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde, as the members of the assembly on December 7, 2024.

Rahul Narwekar re-elected unopposed 

Rahul Narwekar, who won his Colaba legislative assembly constituency in the recently held assembly election, was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the 15th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

He was the candidate of the Mahayuti, which won 230 of the 288 seats. The opposition, Maha Vikas Aghadi, which won 46 seats in the recent election, did not put up its candidate for the speaker post. Thus, Rahul Narwekar was declared elected unopposed by the Protem Speaker, Kalidas Sulochana Nilkanth Kolambakar.

2nd Person to be consecutive Speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly 

Before the formation of the state of Maharashtra on 1 May 1960, it was part of Bombay State.

On 1 May 1960, the Bombay State was split into Gujarat and Maharashtra.

So far, four people have been Speaker of the Bombay/Maharashtra legislative assembly consecutively.

• Rahul Narwekar is the second person after Balasaheb Bharde to be re-elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
• Balasaheb Bharde, also known as Trimbak, was the Speaker of Maharashtra's 2nd and 3rd Legislative Assembly.
• Kundanmal Firodia was the first person to be re-elected as the Speaker of the legislative assembly of Bombay State. 
• Sayaji L Silam was the last Speaker of the Bombay State Legislative Assembly and the first Speaker of the Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly (in 1960).

15th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Poll 

The ruling Mahayuti alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde), and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Ajit Pawar won  230 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The election to constitute the 15th Maharashtra legislative assembly was held in two phases on November 13 and 20.

The final party positions in the 15th assembly are 

Mahayuti - BJP 132; Shiv Sena 57; NCP 41; supported by Jan Surabaya Shakti Party 2; Rashtriya Yuva Swabhiman Party 1; Rashtriya Samaj Paksh 1; Independents 2; Rajarshi Shahu Vikas Aghadi 1.

Opposition  - Shiv Sena (Uddhav) 20; Congress 16; NCP (Sharad Pawar) 10; Communist Party of India 1; PWP 1; AIMIM 1; Samajwadi Party 2. 

Also Read: Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as Maharashtra Chief Minister for the third time.