Voting underway to elect deputy speaker of UP legislative assembly
Lucknow Oct 18 PTI Polling for the post of deputy speaker in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly was underway on Monday with BJP-backed SP rebel MLA Nitin Agarwal and the Akhilesh Yadav-led partys official candidate Narendra Verma in the frayThe Bahujan Samaj Party BSP which has 16 MLAs in the House staged a walkout before the voting process began while the Congress with its seven legislators has decided to boycott the pollsThe Congress has accused the ruling BJP of attempting to divert attention from the various problems plaguing Uttar Pradesh by going in for the election for the post of deputy speakerVoting began around 1145 am and will continue till 3 pm Results will be formally announced after thatAgarwal who was elected as a legislator on a Samajwadi Party SP ticket but then cozied up to the ruling BJP is all set to be the deputy speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly with the support of the saffron partyA miffed SP which has fielded Verma as its official candidate for the contest had on Sunday hit out at the BJP accusing it of trying to sabotage democracy and asserted that the post should traditionally go to the opposition partyAgarwals victory is just a matter of time given the overwhelming majority the BJP enjoys in the HouseAt present the saffron party has 304 MLAs in the 403-member UP legislative assembly while the Samajwadi Party has 49BJP-ally Apna Dal Sonelal has nine MLAsAfter the polling Uttar Pradesh will get its first deputy speaker of the legislative assembly after a gap of over 14 yearsAs per tradition an MLA from the principal opposition party is made the deputy speaker of the assembly The last deputy speaker of the UP legislative assembly was the BJPs Rajesh Agarwal who was elected unopposed in 2004 PTI NAV SAB SNS IJT

Lucknow Oct 18 PTI Polling for the post of deputy speaker in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly was underway on Monday with BJP-backed SP rebel MLA Nitin Agarwal and the Akhilesh Yadav-led partys official candidate Narendra Verma in the frayThe Bahujan Samaj Party BSP which has 16 MLAs in the House staged a walkout before the voting process began while the Congress with its seven legislators has decided to boycott the pollsThe Congress has accused the ruling BJP of attempting to divert attention from the various problems plaguing Uttar Pradesh by going in for the election for the post of deputy speakerVoting began around 1145 am and will continue till 3 pm Results will be formally announced after thatAgarwal who was elected as a legislator on a Samajwadi Party SP ticket but then cozied up to the ruling BJP is all set to be the deputy speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly with the support of the saffron partyA miffed SP which has fielded Verma as its official candidate for the contest had on Sunday hit out at the BJP accusing it of trying to sabotage democracy and asserted that the post should traditionally go to the opposition partyAgarwals victory is just a matter of time given the overwhelming majority the BJP enjoys in the HouseAt present the saffron party has 304 MLAs in the 403-member UP legislative assembly while the Samajwadi Party has 49BJP-ally Apna Dal Sonelal has nine MLAsAfter the polling Uttar Pradesh will get its first deputy speaker of the legislative assembly after a gap of over 14 yearsAs per tradition an MLA from the principal opposition party is made the deputy speaker of the assembly The last deputy speaker of the UP legislative assembly was the BJPs Rajesh Agarwal who was elected unopposed in 2004 PTI NAV SAB SNS IJT