Ritu Khanduri becomes first woman speaker of Uttarakhand assembly; CM Dhami congratulates

Ritu Khanduri Bhushan was elected as the Speaker of the legislative assembly of Uttarakhand on Saturday, March 26. The state of Uttarakhand has never witnessed a woman sitting in the position of the speaker in the legislative assembly; the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader became the first woman to hold the position. Overall, Ritu is the fifth assembly leader of the house as she succeeded Premchand Aggarwal as his term ended on March 10, who was the leader in the previous assembly. 

It is pertinent to mention that the election for the selection of the speaker of the house finished earlier on Saturday at 12:00 PM, and Khanduri was declared as the unopposed speaker of the house with a unanimous decision. Notably, there are eight woman MLAs in the 70 seat assembly of the hilly state.

After being elected  as the Speaker, Ritu Khanduri said, "Gratitude and thanks to all the respected members of the party and the opposition for electing the Speaker of the Uttarakhand fifth Legislative Assembly unanimously unopposed. To the best of my abilities, I will try my best to discharge the highest parliamentary ideals and traditions."

Chief Minister of the state Pushkar Singh Dhami congratulated Ritu Khanduri as "new history" was scripted in the state. While talking to News Agency, ANI, he said, "I want to congratulate Ritu Khanduri for being elected as the first woman speaker of the state Assembly. She will run the House well and our Assembly will create new history under her leadership."

Who is Ritu Khanduri Bhushan?

In the recently concluded Uttarakhand legislative assembly elections, Ritu Khanduri defeated Congress' Surendra Singh Negi by 3,687 votes from the Kotdwar assembly. The BJP leader is serving her second term in the legislative assembly of Uttarakhand, in the previous term, she was elected from the Yamkeshwar constituency.

Ritu Khanduri is a daughter of Major General Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri (Retd.), AVSM, who also served as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from the year 2007 to 2009. Before coming to politics the current speaker of the Uttarakhand assembly was a teacher at Amity university in Noida. 

BJP had won the recently concluded Uttarakhand elections with a thumping majority as the party got 57 seats in the 70 seat assembly. The prime contenders Congress could only garner 11 seats. Notably, the current CM Pushkar Singh Dhami had lost his seat and the former CM of Congress Harish Singh Rawat also lost his seat in the recently concluded elections.

Image: @RituKhanduriBJP