THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM state committee member and second time MLA from Thalassery A N Shamsheer has been elected as the 24th Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly. Shamseer defeated UDF's Anwar Sadat in the voting held in the assembly. Shamsheer got 96 votes and Anwar Sadat got 40 votes. Deputy Speaker Chittayam Gopakumar presided over the voting. Three sets of nomination papers were submitted for Shamseer and one set for Anwar Sadat.

A new speaker had to be chosen as Rajesh, who was the speaker, was sworn in as the Minister of Local Government and Excise. The last session of the assembly convened for making the law ended on the 1st of this month. The decision to dissolve it was approved by the Cabinet meeting but was not informed to the Governor. The cabinet will be convened today after the polls and then will approve the end of the session and request the governor.

Speaker A C Jose was the last elected speaker in the Kerala Legislative Assembly without a vote. It was in 1982. At that time, they were equal members of the ruling and opposition ranks. In many sessions of that House, when votes within the House were required, the Speaker casted a vote and saved the government from the crisis.