Summary:
Lucknow, Oct 18 (PTI) BJP-backed Samajwadi Party rebel Nitin Agarwal was on Monday elected Deputy Speaker in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, defeating his party’s official candidate Narendra Verma by 244 votes.
Agarwal got 304 votes compared to Verma’s 60 in the polling held through ballot papers at a special one-day assembly session here.
Four ballot papers were declared invalid.
The Bahujan Samaj Party, which has 16 MLAs, and the Congress with its seven boycotted the election.
Carrying placards, Congress workers protested in front of the assembly building and accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to divert attention from the problems faced by the state.
Agarwal is now the state’s first Deputy Speaker in 14 years.