Former Minister and 5-time MLA U.T. Khader was unanimously elected Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly on May 24.
Pro-tem Speaker R.V. Deshpande conducted the proceedings relating to the election of the Speaker.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah proposed the name of Mr Khader, which was seconded by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
Mr Khader is the 23 rd Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
The 54-year-old is the second-youngest Speaker of the Assembly after K.R. Ramesh Kumar, who became the Speaker at the age of 43 in 1994 when H.D. Deve Gowda was the Chief Minister.
He is the first Muslim to serve as Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
Earlier, the Congress Legislature Party unanimously chose to nominate Mr Khader for the post.
Mr Siddaramaiah, Mr Shivakumar, former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Minister G. Parameshwara and BJP member C. N. Ashwath Narayan congratulated Mr Khader.
Who is U.T. Khader
Born on October 12, 1969, Mr Khader served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition when BJP was in charge of the government (2019-23).
He holds a bachelor’s degree in law. He started his political career as a district functionary of the NSUI in the 1990s. He is a five-time MLA.
His first contest was the 2007 by-poll from the erstwhile Ullal constituency (now Mangaluru) after the demise of his father U.T. Fareed who was the sitting MLA. Since then, he has won every election from Mangaluru constituency.
He served as the Health, and the Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the Siddaramaiah-led government during 2013-18. In the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in 2018-19, Mr Khader held the portfolios of Housing and Urban Development.
