Sreeramakrishnan elected Speaker of Kerala Assembly

Thiruvananthapuram:  P. Sreeramakrishnan (CPI-M) was elected as Speaker of the Assembly on Friday.

He won 92 votes against 46 votes polled by V. P. Sajeendran (Congress). The ruling Left Democratic Front received two votes from the Opposition (The LDF has a strength of 91 in the Assembly and protem voter did not vote). One vote was declared invalid.

BJP leader O. Rajagopal and one member from Opposition United Democratic Front voted for the LDF. Independent member P. C. George put his ballot straight in to the box without marking any choice, rendering his vote invalid. Mr. Rajagopal declared that he had voted for Mr. Ramakrishnan. The identity of the UDF member, who voted for the LDF, is unknown as secret balloting is followed in the election of Speaker.

After the election, both the Chief Minister Pinarai Vijayan and Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala ushered Mr. Ramakrishnan to the Speaker's chair.

P. Sreeramakrishnan (48), who is a State Committee member of the CPI (M), began his political career as a leader of Student Federation of India. He has held several positions in the Democratic Youth Federation from district secretary to national president. He was elected from Ponnani for the second time.

Son of communist leader and trade unionist Gopinathan Nair and P. Seetha Lakshmi, Mr. Sreeramakrishnan became a high school teacher after receiving  a post graduate degree and B. Ed. He has served as Director, E.M.S. Hospital and Research Centre, Perinthalmanna.

Congratulating Mr. Sreeramakrishnan on his election as Speaker, Chief Minister Pinarai Vijayan said that the soft-spoken Speaker would be the guardian of rules of the House and would be able to uphold the rights of all members.

He said that the election of a young member as Speaker showed that the democracy in the State was becoming mature.  The House had earlier elected 42-year old K. Radhakrishnan as Speaker and now 48-year-old Sreeramakrishnan.

Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala said that the Speaker was expected to work independent of the government and custodian of rights of members.