Tripura Assembly Elects Ram Pada Jamatia As Speaker Without Opposition
Ram Pada Jamatia elected unopposed as Tripura Assembly Speaker, succeeding late Biswa Bandhu Sen.
Former Minister and senior BJP legislator Ram Pada Jamatia was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the Tripura Assembly on Wednesday. His nomination followed a proposal from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies—the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT)—on March 12.
The election was necessitated by the passing of the previous Speaker, Biswa Bandhu Sen, on December 26 last year. Sen, a four-time MLA, died at the age of 72 in Bengaluru after undergoing medical treatment for more than four-and-a-half months. Acting Speaker Ram Prasad Paul announced that Jamatia was the sole candidate to file nomination papers and was therefore declared elected unopposed.
Following the announcement, Chief Minister Manik Saha, Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury, Congress Legislature Party leader and former Minister Birajit Sinha, TMP and IPFT leaders, and Chief Whip Kalyani Saha Roy, among others, escorted Jamatia to the Speaker’s chair.
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Ram Pada Jamatia previously served as Minister of Tribal Welfare and Industry and Commerce (Handloom, Handicrafts, and Sericulture) from 2022 to 2023. He is only the second tribal leader to hold the post of Speaker in Tripura since the state attained full statehood in 1972, following Sudhanwa Debbarma, who served from 1978 to 1983.
A two-time MLA from the Bagma Assembly constituency in Gomati district (2018 and 2023), the 69-year-old joined the BJP in 2017 after retiring from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Prior to that, he had worked at the Tripura Jute Mill.
The election of Jamatia coincides with the ongoing Budget session of the Tripura Assembly, which began on March 13 with Governor Indrasena Reddy Nallu delivering the customary address. Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy presented a tax-free deficit budget of Rs 34,212.31 crore for 2026-27, including higher allocations for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council ahead of its elections on April 13. Three key bills were also introduced to establish Tripura Women’s University, Tripura University of Health Sciences, and Tripura Technical University. The session is scheduled to continue until March 25.
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