HYDERABAD: The election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker on Saturday turned out to be a cakewalk for the Congress, as predicted in these columns, with its nominees, Nadendla Manohar and Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, winning comfortably.Though the special session of the Assembly was convened for only the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, the notice for moving a no-confidence motion against the government served by the TDP was expected to be taken up. But after the election, Deputy Speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka adjourned the House sine die without even so much as acknowledging the notice evoking loud protests from the TDP members.What has come as a surprise, though, is the absolute compliance of MLAs loyal to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy with the diktats of their respective parties. The YSR Congress chief’s men had said Friday that they would not “interfere” in the Speaker’s election but there was a lingering suspicion given that the Jagan camp had been claiming support of a large number of Congress MLAs.All the known Jagan MLAs, a majority of them in the Congress and even those in the TDP and the PRP, stood up obediently and voted in accordance with the whip issued by their respective parties.YSR Congress’ lone member Vijayamma abstained from voting. According to analysts, Jagan did not dare upset the Congress applecart after seeing the writing on the wall - there would be no secret ballot and in an open election, the MLAs who defy the party whip would face disqualification. Not knowing how many of them would abide by his directives, he let the Congress MLAs and others vote for the candidates that their parties were supporting.This helped the Congress prove its strength on the floor of the House. Nadendla Manohar was elected Speaker with 158 votes and Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka was elected Deputy Speaker with 164 votes, defeating the Telugu Desam Party nominees KE Krishna Murthy who got 90 votes and Suddhala Devaiah 88 votes.Members of the CPI (4), BJP (2) and LSP (1) did not take part in the voting though they were in the House.Vikramarka could get the votes of six more Congress MLAs because they could not make it to the Assembly in time for the Speaker’s election.When the House met at 11.15 a.m., Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu moved a motion deleting certain rules of the Assembly to conduct the election via open ballot.Later, the Protem Speaker wanted the Legislative Affairs Minister to move the motion for the Speaker’s election and passed the motion with a voice vote and declared Manohar as elected.But, the TDP insisted on a division of votes. TDP member Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu pointed out that the Assembly bulletin had clearly stated that the election would be conducted using secret ballot with ballot papers and boxes and wondered why the government was opting for an open ballot.“Is it afraid of losing the election?” he asked.However, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said they considered the Supreme Court judgment delivered in 2006 and the practice in the Parliament and decided to go for an open ballot.Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu said his party had always wanted open ballot as it would prevent horse-trading. But, Naidu wanted to know why there was a sudden change in the voting system and why the Protem Speaker hurriedly deleted certain rules to have an open ballot.
Comments
0 comment