Rana Kanwar Pal Singh elected Speaker of Punjab Assembly

Chandigarh: Congress' Rana Kanwar Pal Singh was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly here on Monday.

The name of the 59-year-old Anandpur Sahib MLA was proposed by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and it was seconded by state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra.

However, during the process of electing the Speaker, the MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party and its ally Lok Insaf Party started raising slogans and staged a walkout, demanding a debate on the Governor's address.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD) deputy leader Ajit Singh Kohar and BJP MLA Dinesh Singh Babbu congratulated Rana KP Singh on becoming the Speaker of the Assembly.

In his address, Amarinder said the members of the ruling Congress party will extend "full support" to the newly-elected Speaker for a smooth conduct of the House proceedings.

The chief minister said he had full faith in the Anandpur Sahib MLA that he will be a successful Speaker.

Kohar said Rana KP Singh was well aware of the rules of the House.

BJP MLA Som Parkash extended support to the Speaker for the smooth functioning of the House.

State Finance Minister Manpreet Badal hailed the unanimous election of Rana KP Singh as the Speaker of the House.

Former Punjab Youth Congress president Rana K P Singh was elected from the Anandpur Sahib constituency for the third time in the just-concluded state Assembly polls. He defeated BJP's Parminder Sharma with a margin of 23,881 votes.

Rana KP Singh is a law graduate from Dehradun University. He was practising law at the Rupnagar district courts before joining politics.

Previously, he had contested from the same constituency on a Congress ticket but lost to BJP's Madan Mohan Mittal.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and ex-deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today took oath as MLAs in the chamber of the Speaker.

The father-son duo were conspicuous by their absence from the House on the second day of the current session.

They were also absent on the first day of the session on March 24.