Surjya Narayan Patro elected Odisha Assembly speaker

Bhubaneswar: Senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and Digapahandi MLA Surjya Narayan Patro was on Saturday elected as the Speaker of Odisha Assembly.

The former minister was elected uncontested as the Speaker of 16th Odisha Legislative Assembly.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik tabled the proposal, which was supported by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh and other members of the Assembly.

However, the BJP legislators were not present during the Speaker election.

Pro tem Speaker Amar Prasad Satpathy invited Patro to take the charge as the Speaker.