SHILLONG: NPP MLA from Resubelpara, Timothy D Shira was elected as the Deputy Speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.
The election for the post was done through a secret ballot in which Timothy D Shira secured 36 votes while Congress MLA David Nongrum from the opposition side secured 20 votes while 1 vote was found invalid.
Congratulating the new Deputy Speaker of the House, Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma said that Shira being the eldest member of the House would be a boon for the young legislators.
He further said that the young legislators of the Assembly were in safe hands with two senior most MLAs — Dr Donkupar Roy and Timothy D Shira — occupying the two important posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
According to Sangma, the close link of Shira with the grassroots has enabled him to him to be elected as the MLAs and his experience in the political circles would add value to the Assembly.
On the other hand, Opposition leader, Mukul Sangma said that Timothy Shira is one among the few who have contested elections several times, eight to be exact and he never believes in giving up which is the reason he has been once again elected as the MLA of Resubelpara.
Sangma jokingly said that as Timothy Shira is a farmer and an entrepreneur, distribution of pumpkins by him gave him lot of votes.
His rival candidate for the post of Deputy Speaker, David Nongrum while congratulating the new Deputy Speaker urged him to discharge his duties responsibly and ensure justice for each and every member of the house.
Congress senior leader, Charles Pyngrope urged the newly-elected Deputy Speaker to serve the house to the best of his capability even as he added that he being the father of David Nongrum could not make him win the elections for the post of Deputy Speaker this time which sent the House into laughter.
Other MLAs like Sanbor Shullai, Lambor Malngiang, James Sangma, Thomas Sangma also congratulated the newly-elected Speaker.