Agartala, Mar 24, 2023, TRIPURA TIMES Desk

Key Highlights: Tipra Motha MLAs skip voting, Pranajit Singha Roy tables Vote on Account, Animesh Debbarla declared Opposition Leader.

Agartala, Mar 24: The first Session of thirteenth Tripura Legislative Assembly commenced on Friday with election of the new Speaker.

Veteran politician and MLA Biswabandhu Sen was elected as the Speaker of Tripura assembly. He secured 32 votes while Congress MLA Gopal Roy, jointly nominated by Congress and CPM, got 14 votes. Out of a total 59 votes, 46 votes were cast. After the election, pro-tem speaker Binoy Bhusan Das announced Biswabandhu Sen as elected.

Meanwhile, the Tipra Motha MLAs skipped the voting—they walked out from the assembly expressing their displeasure over the sitting arrangements.

The election was held at the beginning of the first session of thirteenth Tripura Legislative Assembly. Secretary of the assembly B.P. Karmakar was the Returning Officer in the election.

After being elected as the Speaker, Sen was greeted by Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha among other members of the House.

In his speech, the Speaker sought cooperation from all the members for smooth conduct of the assembly business. Sen said, he would uphold the glory of the chair.

On behalf of the treasury bench, the Chief Minister in his speech assured the Speaker of extending full cooperation.

Tipra Motha MLA Animesh Debbarma, who has been declared Opposition Leader, expressed hope that the Speaker, who holds vast experience in the House, would smoothly conduct the assembly business.

CPM MLA Jitendra Chaudhury and Congress MLA Gopal Roy also greeted Sen on being elected as the Speaker.

In the second half of the Session, Finance minister Pranajit Singha Roy tabled Vote on Account of Rs. 9066.56 crore for the first four months of the Financial Year 2023-24. He also placed a demand for supplementary grants for 2022-23.

Meanwhile, the House mourned the demise of Draudkumar Reang, N.C. Debbarma, Radharaman Debnath and Haricharan Sarkar.

Three Bills were tabled in the House and the Chief Minister moved a motion for constitution of five committees.

In the meantime, Kalyani Roy of BJP was made Chief Whip of the House. MLAs- Jitendra Chowdhury and Shyamal Roy were declared leader and deputy leader of CPM legislature party while Nirmal Biswas was declared Whip. MLAs- Filip Kumar Reang and Biswajit Kalai were announced as deputy leader and whip of Tipra Motha Party.