Veteran National Assembly leader Abdul Rahim Rather was on Monday elected the first Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. Instead, he served seven terms as MLA from Charar-i-Sharief, winning the post by voice vote after the opposition parties chose not to contest. The election was conducted by Protem Speaker Mubarak Gul.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah congratulated Abdul Rahim Rather on being elected as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and said, “On behalf of the entire House, I congratulate you. You were the natural choice for the post of Speaker. Not one person objected to your being chosen as the Speaker…You have now become the custodian of this House…”
Senior BJP leader and the party’s Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma extended his wishes and assured full cooperation on behalf of the opposition while seeking “neutral stand from the Speaker. “Sir, I congratulate you for being elected as the Speaker.”
Election and approval
In the first session of the five-day Assembly, Minister for Agriculture Javed Ahmad Dar proposed Rather’s candidature, which was seconded by NC MLA Arjun Singh Raju. Following the election, Rather was escorted to the Speaker’s chair by Leader of the House Omar Abdullah and Leader of Opposition, BJP’s Sunil Sharma.
Returning leaders
The 80-year-old Rather brings a wealth of experience to the role having earlier served as Speaker in the erstwhile of Jammu and Kashmir state assembly. In the PDP-Congress coalition government, he also held the post of Leader of Opposition from 2002 to 2008.
Historic session resumes
This Assembly session was the first session in more than six years, the last session was held in early 2018, before the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into the two Union states.
