E-Paper
BJP nominee Nitin Agarwal elected deputy speaker of Uttar Pradesh assembly
The election of the deputy speaker is an indicator of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly poll outcome, says Yogi Adityanath
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee Nitin Agarwal, who is technically still a Samajwadi Party MLA, was elected deputy speaker of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly, defeating the SP’s official nominee Narendra Verma by a margin of 244 votes here on Monday.
Agarwal, who served as a minister of state in the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government and later joined the BJP in 2018 with his father Naresh Agarwal, secured 304 votes while Verma got 60 votes.
Out of the 368 votes polled, four were declared invalid in counting after nearly three-hour long polling by secret ballot. The outcome of the election for deputy speaker indicated apparent cross-voting in favour of candidates of both the parties.
“I congratulate Nitin Agarwal, a young and experienced leader, for his victory with a heavy margin. The Samajwadi Party failed to mobilise even the opposition’s votes for its nominee Narendra Verma. This election is a reflection on the outcome of 2022 assembly polls,” said chief minister Yogi Adityanath soon after assembly speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit declared Agarwal elected.
The Uttar Pradesh assembly has a sanctioned strength of 404 members, including one nominated member. It has seven vacancies and the nominated member does not have voting rights in the deputy speaker’s election, thereby bringing down the current voting strength in the House to 396 members.
The BJP has the support of at least 316 members. They include 304 of the BJP, nine of the Apna Dal (S) members and three independents. Questions are being raised about 28 abstentions and also about how the BJP member got only 304 votes against the support of at least 316 and how SP nominee Narendra Verma secured 60 votes against the SP’s effective strength of 46 against 49 listed party members in the House. Three SP members Shivpal Singh Yadav, Hariom Yadav and Nitin Agarwal do not identify themselves with the Samajwadi Party.
While the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) staged a walk-out before the voting and the Congress officially stayed away from the election, their rebels were seen taking part in Monday’s voting. The BSP has 16 listed members and two unattached members. The Congress has seven listed members, including two rebels.
Yogi, in his congratulatory address, also said the BJP has considered UP as a family while the SP was not able to rise above the family considerations. He said his government has always engaged in dialogue with the opposition, while the SP has followed the policy of opposing and it failed to give the name of any SP leader for election as deputy speaker in the past four- and-a-half years. He said his government has followed the tradition of giving the deputy speaker’s post to the main opposition party as Agarwal is technically an SP member.
He accused the SP of betraying its candidate by not mobilising support for Verma even among the opposition parties. He said the SP leader has called election unfair though poll was held by secret ballot and not by using EVMs (electronic voting machines). Minister for parliamentary affairs Suresh Khanna said viewing the opposition’s strength in the House, the SP nominee should have got 78 and not just 60 votes.
Leader of opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary (SP), while congratulating Agarwal, countered Yogi’s observations and said the SP fielded Verma despite being aware of the outcome. He said in the 2022 assembly elections, the SP would be voted to power and the BJP would go to the opposition benches. He also said the SP did not seek any support from the Congress or the BSP and yet his party’s candidate got 60 votes.
He said the BJP candidate secured only 304 votes, indicating whom the people would vote for in the 2022 assembly elections.
