Summary:
Dehradun, Mar 26 (PTI) BJP MLA Ritu Khanduri, the daughter of former chief minister B C Khanduri, was elected unopposed as the first woman speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly on Saturday.
The announcement about her election was made by pro-tem speaker Banshidhar Bhagat.
Her election to the post was a foregone conclusion as the main opposition Congress chose to stay out of contest.
Ritu Khanduri won from Kotdwar by defeating former minister S S Negi by more than 3,000 votes.
She had won her maiden assembly election from the Yamkeshwar constituency in 2017.
Before taking a plunge into politics, she taught at a private university in Noida for several years.