BJP MLA Fateh Bahadur Singh is UP's Protem Speaker

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik today on the proposal of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath appointed BJP MLA Fateh Bahadur Singh as the Protem Speaker of the state Assembly.

The Protem Speaker (officiating speaker), generally the senior-most member of the Legislative Assembly, administers oath to new MLAs.

"Governor Ram Naik on the proposal of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has appointed Fateh Bahadur Singh as the Protem Speaker," a Raj Bhavan statment said.

"The Governor also nominated four MLAs -- Durga Prasad Yadav, Ram Pal Verma, Fagu Chauhan and Ramveer Upadhyay.

"These four MLAs and Protem Speaker would be administered oath by Governor Ram Naik at Raj Bhavan on March 27, and they would in turn administer oath to the newly-elected MLAs of UP," it said.

49-year-old Singh has been elected from Campiyarganj in Gorakhpur on a BJP ticket.

In 2012, he was elected from the same constituency on an NCP ticket (the lone NCP MLA then in the UP Assembly). In 2007, Singh had won the Paniara seat on a BSP ticket.

A former minister in the UP government, Singh is the son of ex-Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Veer Bahadur Singh.

A few days ago, he had offered to resign the seat so that Yogi Adityanath could contest it.