CPI(M) legislator A. N. Shamseer was elected Speaker of the Kerala Assembly on Monday.
Mr. Shamseer, who was the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate in the election to the post, defeated Congress MLA and United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Anwar Sadat by 96 to 40 votes. Mr. Shamseer's victory was expected as the LDF has 99 seats against 41 of the UDF in the House.
Mr. Shamseer succeeds his party colleague M. B. Rajesh as the Speaker. The post fell vacant after the latter replaced M. V. Govindan as Minister for Local Self-Government following a rejig in the Pinarayi Vijayan ministry. Mr. Govindan had stepped down as minister to take over as State secretary of the CPI(M).
Mr. Shamseer, who represents the Thalassery constituency in Kannur district, is the 24th Speaker of the Kerala Assembly.
Deputy Speaker Chittayam Gopakumar oversaw the election held at the Legislative Assembly. Polling began at 10 a.m. and ended at 10.33 a.m. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was the first to cast the vote. On the LDF side, the Deputy Speaker did not vote. Minister for Water Resources Roshy Augustine and Aroor MLA Daleema Jojo on the LDF side, and Manjeri MLA U. A. Latheef on the UDF side did not vote as they were out of station.
Hailing from Thalassery, Mr. Shamseer, 45, entered politics through the SFI. He later held the posts of State secretary and all-India joint secretary of the SFI and State president of the DYFI. Mr. Shamseer was first elected to the Kerala Assembly in 2016 from Thalassery.
The CPI(M) fielded him from the Vadakara constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but he lost to Mullappally Ramachandran of the Congress.
Mr. Shamseer, who is a postgraduate in Law and Anthropology, is married to P. M. Sahala. The couple has a son.
