Tuesday, 15 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Banshidhar Bhagat has been nominated as the pro tem speaker of the newly constituted fifth elected assembly of Uttarakhand. He was appointed by the governor of Uttarakhand Lieutenant General (retd) Gurmit Singh on Monday while exercising power under the Article 180 (1) of the constitution. The governor would soon administer oath of office and secrecy to him after which Bhagat would preside over the oath to the newly elected members of the state assembly. He would hold the chair of the speaker till a new Speaker is elected from among the elected members of the house.
Elected from the Kaladhungi assembly constituency, Bhagat is the senior most member of the Vidhan Sabha as he is a seven time MLA. He became MLA for the first time in the year 1991 when he was elected from Nainital assembly in undivided Uttar Pradesh (UP). He was re-elected in 1993 and 1996 and was made the minister of state for food, civil supplies, Parvatiya Vikas minister and minister of state for forests. After the creation of a separate state of Uttarakhand in the year 2000, he was made cabinet minister. In the year 2007 was elected from Haldwani assembly and was made forest and transport minister. In the years 2012, 2017 and 2022 he was elected to the assembly on the BJP ticket. He has also held the post of the president of the Uttarakhand BJP.
