Rahul Narvekar has been elected as the new Maharashtra Assembly speaker. The election came days after Eknath Shinde forced Uddhav Thackeray to step down from the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister by engineering a rebellion of Shiv Sena MLAs. Around 40 MLAs had rebelled against Thackeray demanding he formed an alliance with the BJP. Shinde took oath as the new Chief Minister last week. The Speaker's election was seen as a mini floor test before the vote of confidence on Monday. NCP legislator Narhari Zirwal could not vote as he is the deputy speaker. He said some Shiv Sena MLAs had voted against the party whip and action will be taken against them. Rahul Narvekar was elected as the Speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly amid chants of Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji and Jai Sri Ram. He received 164 votes in his support. 107 MLAs voted against him.
The voting started at 11 am. Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi received 107 votes. Eknath Shinde will face the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly on Monday.
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Who is Rahul Narwekar?
Rahul Narwekar is a member of Maharashtra Assembly from Mumbai's Colaba Assembly constituency. He was a Shiv Sena member. However, he switched to BJP after he was denied the ticket in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He joined NCP and contested the elections from the Maval constituency but lost.
He is currently the BJP MLA from Colaba. He is the son-in-law of senior NCP leader Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar. His father was a Municipal Councillor in Colaba. His brother and sister-in-law are the councillors from Ward number 227 and Ward number 226.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he is the youngest speaker in the country. Narvekar is just 45 years old.
Rahul Narwekar's father-in-law is the chairman of the Legislative Council.
