Tenzing Thongdok elected as the 11th Speaker of Arunachal Pradesh

Itanagar: Tenzing  Thongdok on Wednesday was unanimously elected as the 11th Speaker of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Congress MLA Bamang Felix moved the motion for election of the Speaker which was seconded by his party colleague Pani Taram. The post had on Tuesday fallen vacant following the resignation of incumbent Speaker Nabam Rebia. [caption id=“attachment_2897386” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Arunchal Pradesh Chief Minister-designate Pema Khandu. Image from Khandu’s Facebook profile[/caption] All the 57 MLAs, including 11 of BJP and two Independents, supported Thongdok, while Congress MLA P D Sona officiated as the Acting Speaker. Thongdok was the only candidate to have filed nomination for the coveted post. Governor Tathagata Roy had on late Tuesday night issued an order to summon the assembly. Addressing the House after being elected as the Speaker, Thongdok said he will uphold the sanctity and dignity of the House by providing equal opportunity to all the members, irrespective of party affiliations. He thanked the members for reposing faith in him and assured them of his support in the House. Thongdok also sought their unstinted support for running the business of the House smoothly and efficiently. An engineering graduate, Thondok represents Kalaktang (ST) constituency in West Kameng district. He was born on 12 March, 1951 in Jigaon village and hails from the Sherdukpen community. He served the state as Chief Engineer of PWD and as Power Secretary before entering politics in 2009, when he won the Assembly elections from Kalaktang constituency. He was the Minister of Power in the Kalikho Pul government and appointed as Parliamentary Secretary and the Deputy Speaker during the tenure of the Nabam Tuki dispensation.