National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Vijay Kumar Sinha beat rival Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Awadh Bihari Choudhary by 12 votes to become the chairman of Bihar’s 17th state assembly in a rare voting session. marked by uproar over an alleged ‘poaching’ audio clip by Lalu Prasad Yadav.
While Sinha’s offer was supported by the sole LJP MLA, Mahagathbandhan’s (MGB) offer was based on Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM MLAs. Three MLAs: Jitan Manjhi (who did not vote because he was presiding over the chamber as interim speaker), one MLA from AIMIM, and the only BSP MLA did not vote.
Amid criticism from the opposition, which had opposed Prime Minister Nitish Kumar’s presence in the chamber and demanded a secret ballot, the Lakhisarai BJP MLA was elected president in the first such election by the state assembly. in more than 50 years. Generally, the speaker is chosen by consensus of the chamber. The last time an election for the president of the Bihar assembly was held was in March 1969.
The MGB candidate, five-time RJD MLA, Awadh Bihari Choudhary got 114 votes. BJP’s Vijay Kumar Sinha got 126 votes.
Ruckus came to the house as soon as Mukesh Sahani, founder of VIP that is part of the ruling alliance, in his congratulatory message to the speaker said that those who sang virtues on democracy “should not make calls from jail.” He voiced his objection to Yadav’s unverified audio clip, without taking the name of the RJD patriarch.
In the audio clip, Yadav is heard speaking with an MLA NDA asking him to remain absent on the day of the vote under the pretext of the COVID-19
pandemic. “Once the speaker leaves, we will see (about toppling the existing government),” he supposedly says.
लालू यादव ने दिखाई अपनी असलियतलालू प्रसाद यादव द्वारा NDA के विधायक को बिहार विधान सभा अध्यक्ष के लिए होने वाले चुनाव में महागठबंधन के पक्ष में मतदान करने हेतु प्रलोभन देते हुए। pic.twitter.com/LS9968q7pl
– Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) November 25, 2020
The MGB had reportedly not considered pitting its own candidate with the NDA considering the appointment of Nand Kishore Yadav as president. However, as soon as the BJP came up with the name of the so-called upper caste Lakhisarai MLA candidate Vijay Kumar Sinha, the RJD decided to nominate Awadh Bihari Choudhary, an MLA from Siwan, and a Yadav, for the position.
While Sinha is a high-ranking leader of his party and was a minister in the previous Nitish Kumar government, Choudhary has been a fifth-term MLA and a member of the assembly since the 1980s.
The numbers were unlikely to favor the MGB from the outset, as the NDA has 126 MLAs against 110 MGBs and there are eight others, including AIMIM’s five MLAs. But the opposition tried to achieve many other goals by contesting this election, which included sending a message to their Yadav voters, who strongly supported the RJD in recent Bihar assembly polls. Another goal was to ensure that MLAs in Congress, about whom rumors of switching sides to the NDA circulated, were kept within the fold of the MGB.
According to the rule, the Spokesperson is generally chosen by consensus of all parties. In the history of the Bihar assembly, voting for the presidency of the President has occurred only twice, once in March 1967 and the other in March 1969. Another thing to keep in mind about this election is that parties do not they usually issue a whip for such elections. polls because they require MLAs to stand up and announce their yes or no against the name of the candidates.
Disclaimer:The clip has been posted by an MLA BJP and has not been verified by News18.
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