Butail set to become new Speaker of Himachal Assembly

The way for his unanimous election was paved after the BJP decided not to field its candidate for the post of the Speaker and there was no other candidate for the post.

Three nominations were filed proposing the name of Butail which included first nomination by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Agriculture minister Sujan Singh Pathania, second by Leader of the opposition P K Dhumal and state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti and third by Irrigation and Public Health minister Vidya Stokes and Housing Minister Sudhir Sharma.

Butail was elected to Vidhan Sabha for the fifth time from Palampur and also remained minister and political advisor to chief minister.

He was elected for the first time in 1985 and was re-elected in 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2012.

Butail's name was finalised after a meeting of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and AICC General Secretary and in-charge for Himachal Pradesh, Barinder Singh Chowdhary late last night.

The Congress leader would be the 12th Speaker of state Assembly and second from Palampur.

The earlier Speakers included Jayavant Ram, Desh Raj Mahajan, Rana Kultarr Chand, Sharwan Kumar, Thakur Sen Negi, Vidya Stokes, Radha Raman Shashtri, Kaul Singh Thakur, Gulab Singh, Gangu Ram and Tulsi ram.