Days after Eknath Shinde took over as the chief minister and the BJP returned to power in the state, first-time BJP legislator Rahul Narwekar was elected as the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker on Sunday.
The election was held after the House proceedings began at 11 am. Narwekar garnered 164 votes in the Assembly.
He was fielded against Sena MLA and Uddhav Thackeray loyalist Rajan Salvi, who was the candidate of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine for the Speaker’s election.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were among the other MLAs in the state Assembly who cast their votes.
Mr Narwekar, 45, was elected to the Assembly from Mumbai’s Colaba constituency. He has been associated with the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party in the past. Narwekar joined the BJP before the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls. He won the assembly elections from Colaba, defeating Congress’ Bhai Jagtap.
