Thomas Sangma on Thursday was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the 11th Meghalaya Assembly.
Sangma was elected unopposed as three opposition parties did not submit the name of any candidate from their party.
Protem Speaker Timothy D Shira, who chaired the proceedings on the concluding day of the special Assembly session, said, "Since only one nomination paper was received by the office of the Assembly, I hereby declare Thomas A Sangma as Speaker."
By felicitating the newly elected Speaker Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said that he was confident that the former Parliamentarian will do justice to the chair.
He said to the newly elected Speaker, "It is a matter of great happiness to see you occupy the Speaker's chair.”
The MDA 2.0 government, which took the oath, previously this week, has the support of 45 MLAs, of which 26 are from the National People's Party (NPP), 11 of the United Democratic Party (UDP) and two members each of the BJP, the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and the People's Democratic Front (PDF), besides two Independent legislators.
Earlier, on Tuesday, National People’s Party chief Conrad Sangma took swore-in as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya for the second consecutive term in Shillong.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief J P Nadda and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were present at the oath-taking ceremony.
The PM also arrived in Guwahati to take part in the swearing ceremony.
It is to be mentioned that in the recently concluded assembly elections in the Northeast, the BJP retained power on its own in Tripura, with the help from ally NDPP in Nagaland.
Thomas A. Sangma was elected to the Upper House of India Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, for the term of 2008-2014 from Nationalist Congress Party. He is from the ruling National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) coalation.
