Patna: The race for the Bihar Assembly Speaker’s position is heating up, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Prem Kumar and Janata Dal (United) MLA Damodar Rawat emerging as key candidates. This comes a day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar assigned portfolios to his state ministers, marking the next phase of the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) legislative strategy. Prem Kumar, who has been elected for a ninth consecutive term from the Gaya Town constituency, is seen as a strong candidate due to his seniority in the BJP. Rawat, the JD(U) MLA from Jhajha, is also reportedly in contention. A special session of the Assembly is anticipated soon for all 243 elected members to take their oaths and elect the Speaker.
The state cabinet is set to finalize the date for this session on November 25. A senior NDA leader clarified the procedure: the Governor will first appoint a ‘Pro-tem Speaker’ to administer the oath to the newly elected MLAs, after which the Assembly will elect its Speaker. Both main NDA parties are actively campaigning for the position. “Lobbying among alliance partners for the Speaker’s post has escalated,” a JD(U) leader commented, while a BJP insider noted, “Our most senior MLA, Prem Kumar, is leading the race for the Speaker’s post.” Prem Kumar previously held the role of Bihar’s Cooperative Minister and served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly from 2015 to 2017.
In the outgoing Assembly, BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav was the Speaker, whereas JD(U)’s Narendra Narayan Yadav served as Deputy Speaker. JD(U) sources indicate that some party members feel the Speaker’s position should belong to their party, considering that BJP’s Awadhesh Narayan Singh currently leads the State Legislative Council, potentially leaving the Deputy Speaker role to the BJP. Earlier this week, Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Bihar’s Chief Minister for an unprecedented tenth term, with 26 ministers taking their oaths alongside him, including 14 from the BJP, eight from the JD(U), two from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and one each from the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha.