Ritu Khanduri elected speaker of Uttarakhand legislative assembly

Uttarakhand got its first woman speaker with the election of Ritu Khanduri, BJP MLA from Kotdwar. She was chosen unopposed on Saturday. She was administered the oath of office by pro-tem speaker Banshidhar Bhagat.

After her election, Khanduri expressed her gratitude to all the members of the ruling party and the Opposition for electing her unanimously as Speaker of the legislative assembly.

“I will try my best to discharge my duties in line with the highest parliamentary ideals and traditions,” she said.

Khanduri said it is a proud moment for the women of the state and she hoped that a small state like Uttarakhand would become an inspiration for other states.

MLAs from both BJP and Congress congratulated her on her election.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami congratulated Khanduri on being elected unopposed. He said, “Matrishakti (women power) has made a huge contribution in Uttarakhand. And today we have got the first woman Speaker of the state.”

Dhami said it was a historic day and he hoped she would run the assembly in the best possible way.

Senior Congress leader and MLA Pritam Singh said he hoped that she will run the House efficiently.

Prof MM Semwal, political analyst said Khanduri was chosen for the job as the BJP wanted to send a signal that they want women to be empowered at all levels. “Also, the women voting percentage was higher than men. Women’s votes played a key role in the victory of BJP. Apart from this, the Dhami cabinet has only one women minister. With Khanduri as the Speaker, they have tried to balance this aspect,” he said.

Voting percentage in the assembly elections stood at 65.37 %, with women voting percentage being more (67.2 %) than the male voting percentage (62.37 %).

Ritu Khanduri, daughter of former chief minister and Union minister Major Gen (retd) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, defeated Congress’s former cabinet minister Surendra Singh Negi from Kotdwar in Pauri Garhwal district. Ritu Khanduri’s victory assumes importance as she was denied a party ticket from her seat Yamkeshwar and was later asked to contest from the new seat of Kotdwar. Taking it in her stride, Khanduri aggressively fought the election and also sought votes reminding voters about the 2012 defeat of her father which according to her denied Kotdwar proper development and a tag of a CM’s home turf.

Ritu was elected as MLA from Yamkeshwar seat in Pauri Garhwal district in 2017 assembly elections by defeating independent candidate Renu Bisht.

Her father and veteran politician, was the CM of Uttarakhand from 2007-2009 and then from 2011-2012 before losing from Kotdwar in assembly elections held in the same year. Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri in his capacity of state chief minister had lost the 2012 assembly election from Kotdwar segment against Surendra Singh Negi.