Awadh Bihari Choudhary Appointed New Speaker of Bihar Assembly

• 27 Aug 2022

Why In News?

• On August 26, 2022, senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Awadh Bihari Chaudhary was unanimously elected Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

Key Points

• Awadh Bihari Chaudhary has replaced former Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha as the 17th Speaker of the Bihar Assembly. On August 24, Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha resigned from his post.
• The Grand Alliance had nominated RJD's Awadh Bihari Choudhary as its candidate for the speaker's post. There was no other nomination against him, so he was unanimously elected president.
• Maheshwar Hazari, who was sitting on the chair of the Speaker of the Assembly, started the process of election for the post of Speaker. After this, Jitan Ram Manjhi of 'HAM' proposed the name of Awadh Bihari Chaudhary. After this, with the consent of the entire House, Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari announced the election of Awadh Bihari Chaudhary as the Speaker.
• The new speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary was made to sit on the Speaker's podium by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and leader of opposition as per tradition.
• 76-year-old Awadh Bihari Chaudhary was elected MLA from Siwan in 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and in February 2005 and 2020. He contested for the Speaker's post in 2020 but lost the contest to Vijay Kumar Sinha. Awadh Bihari Chaudhary has also been a minister in the Rabri government.