Bhubaneswar: Bikram Keshari Arukh, former minister and BJD MLA from Bhanjanagar, on Friday filed his nomination for the post of Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
He submitted the nomination papers to Assembly Secretary Dasharathi Satapathy. The election to the post of Speaker will be held on June 13.
Arukh was tipped to be the next Speaker since Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked all his ministers to resign on June 4 and a new council of 21 ministers was sworn in on June 5. Arukh was a minister in the outgoing ministry.
Surjya Narayan Patro also resigned as Speaker on June 4. His son Biplab Patro, however, said that his father quit on health grounds. “My father is suffering from serious kidney ailments and a serious bacterial infection in his left eye. He has been undergoing treatment at Sum Ultimate hospital,” he said then.
