Assembly Speaker to be elected on Thursday

Thiruvananthapuram: The election to select the Assembly Speaker will be held on Thursday, a notification released by the state government said.

The Assembly will begin the procedure at 9.30 am.

The current Deputy Speaker N Sakthan will be the nominee of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) while the LDF has fielded A K Balan for the post of speaker.

The post became vacant after the demise of speaker G. Karthikeyan on Saturday.

Sakthan, 63, is a member of the powerful Nadar community, which has a sizeable population in the capital district.

Sakthan's election to the post is a certainty as, in the 140-member Assembly, the UDF has 74 seats while the Left opposition has 65. One seat is vacant following Karthikeyan's death.

The UDF, however, is yet to take a decision on who should be fielded as the deputy speaker.