Nomination process for the election of the new Speaker will be completed on Saturday.
Congress MLA Nana Patole and BJP's Kisan Kathore will fight it out in the contest for the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker's post, voting for which will be held on Sunday.
BJP state president Chandrakant Patil said Kisan Kathore will be the party's candidate for the Assembly Speaker post while Nana Patole's name was announced by PCC chief and state minister Balasaheb Thorat.
Nomination process for the election of the new Speaker will be completed on Saturday.
Nana Patole has been elected to state assembly from Sakoli seat. He was earlier elected as a BJP MP from Bhandara-Gondiya constituency in 2014 but the quit the party in 2017.
He unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election against BJP's Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur.
BJP's Kisan Shankar Kathore is an MLA from Murbad assembly constituency in Thane district. He had defeated his nearest NCP rival with a margin of over 1.36 lakh.
He was first elected to Maharashtra assembly in 2004 from Ambernath seat as an NCP candidate. After delimitation in 2008, he switched to Murbad and has been elected from there for three consecutive terms. While he won on an NCP ticket in 2009, he switched to the BJP in 2014 and retained the seat.
Earlier on Friday, NCP MLA Dilip Walse Patil was appointed as pro tem speaker of the Assembly, replacing BJP MLA Kalidas Kolambkar who was earlier this week appointed to the post and administered the oath to all newly-elected legislators. Walse Patil is a former speaker of the Assembly.
The first day of the two-day session began on Saturday with the announcement of the name of the pro tem speaker, followed by the introduction of the new ministers.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's 'Maha Vikas Aghadi' government will face the floor test in the state Assembly around 2 pm.
While the BJP is the single-largest party with 105 MLAs, the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress have 56, 54 and 44 members, respectively.
Besides, the alliance also has a support of some smaller parties, including the Samajwadi Party, and several Independents.
On Monday this week, the Sena-NCP-Congress combine had organised a public parade of 162 MLAs.
On the second day of the session, the Governor will address the newly-elected MLAs and then a new Speaker will be elected.
The new Speaker will also announce the name of the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly on Sunday.
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