Mangubhai Patel elected deputy speaker of Gujarat assembly

Former minister Mangubhai Patel was elected the deputy speaker of the state assembly on Thursday even as the opposition, Congress, walked out during the voting. This is after more than a decade that the post of deputy speaker has been filled in the state.

The Congress, which proposed name of Danilimda MLA Shailesh Parmar as its nominee, demanded that the post of deputy speaker should be given to the opposition keeping in view the tradition of the state assembly.

However, the demand was rejected by the ruling BJP. The Congress MLAs walked out of the House, paving the way for election of Mangubhai Patel unopposed.

Patel, a tribal leader from south Gujarat, was dropped from the cabinet by chief minister Narendra Modi, after the BJP came back to power in December 2012. He is a six-time MLA and had served as minister for over ten years.

The Congress was suspended from the House for the first two days of the session, and had announced that it would boycott proceedings of the assembly on the third and final day. However, half a dozen of its MLAs arrived in the House just before the election, before walking out.