Goa: Cong fields Altone D'Costa for election to Speaker's post; BJP to announce nominee on Sep 23

Panaji, Sep 10 (PTI) Congress MLA Altone D'Costa on Wednesday filed his nomination as the Opposition's candidate for the upcoming election to the post of Goa legislative assembly Speaker, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it would announce its nominee on September 23.

Goa Governor Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju has called a one-day session of the state assembly on September 25 for the election to the post of speaker.

The speaker's post became vacant after Ramesh Tawadkar resigned on August 21 and was inducted into the Pramod Sawant-led state cabinet. Deputy Speaker Joshua De Souza is currently officiating in the absence of a full-time speaker.

While other opposition parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) have supported the candidature of D'Costa, who represents the Quepem assembly constituency, the ruling BJP is yet to announce its candidate.

D'Costa submitted his nomination to state legislature secretary Namrata Ulman.

Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao said D'Costa is a joint candidate of the opposition camp.

There are seven MLAs in the opposition, while 33 others are with the BJP-led government in the 40-member House.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said his party is yet to finalise the candidate for the post of Speaker.

"The candidate will be announced on September 23," he said. PTI RPS NP