Hyderabad: Congress leader Gaddam Prasad Kumar filed his nomination for the post of Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, elections for which are scheduled for Thursday, December 14. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has extended support to the Congress candidate.
This follows a request from Congress leadership on December 13, asking the BRS party and former chief minister KCR to support their candidate in the elections to make it unanimous.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, the pro-tem speaker of the Telangana Assembly, will preside over the election of a speaker.
On election day, Akbaruddin Owaisi will read out the names of members duly nominated, along with their proposers. If there is only one nomination, the member will be declared elected. In the case of multiple nominations, the assembly will proceed to elect the speaker by ballot.
After the speaker’s election, the office of the pro-tem speaker ceases to exist.
The Congress came to power in the state on December 3 with 64 seats. This threw the two-time winner, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), out of power in Telangana with only 39 seats. The BJP secured eight seats, unlike only one in the last elections.
With the BJP MLAs deciding to boycott oath-taking with Akbaruddin Owaisi presiding over the procedures, the Congress candidate is likely to be made speaker uncontested.
Assets of Telangana Congress’ speaker candidate
The assets of the Telangana Congress candidate for the Assembly speaker election, Gaddam Prasad Kumar, are among the lowest on the list of MLAs selected by the All India Congress Committee on December 6.
In this list, D. Anasuya Seethakka possesses the least assets, totalling 82 lakh, while Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy holds the highest assets, amounting to 433 crore.
According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Gaddam Prasad Kumar has over 92 lakh in movable assets and 2 crore in immovable assets. Aged 59 years, Prasad Kumar won the Vicarabad (SC) seat in the recently concluded Telangana Assembly elections.
