Kolkata: Rathindra Bose, the first-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Cooch Behar (Dakshin) constituency, on Friday was elected unopposed as the new Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly.
Bose’s name was announced as the BJP nominee for the post of Speaker of the House on Thursday by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. Since no second name was proposed by any other political party as a contender, Bose was elected unopposed on Friday.
Maintaining the true spirit of Parliamentary democracy, the new Speaker occupied his chair with CM Adhikari on one side and Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, the current Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, on the other side.
His predecessor in the previous Trinamool Congress regime, Biman Bandopadhya, who has been re-elected this time as well, was seen congratulating the new Speaker.
As per protocol, the new Speaker gave CM Adhikari, who is also the Leader of House, the first opportunity to speak on the floor of the House.
Welcoming the new Speaker, the Chief Minister announced that henceforth every proceeding of the House will be telecast live.
“I wish that for the next five years, this Assembly will be able to work constructively to fulfil the expectations of the people of the state. I assure that the opposition will get an opportunity to present its views properly on the floor of the House. At the same time, I also hope that the opposition MLAs will refrain from trying to disrupt the proceedings of the Assembly from the very beginning,” said the Chief Minister.
A Chartered Accountant by profession, Bose is the first legislator from any Assembly constituency in North Bengal to be the Speaker of the House.
He had been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for a long time. Later, he joined active politics with the BJP.
In the 2026 Assembly elections, he defeated Trinamool candidate Abhijit De Bhowmik from the Cooch Behar South constituency by more than 23,000 votes. With Bose, after a long time, the West Bengal Assembly gets a Speaker who is not from the legal profession.
(IANS)
