Pondy Assembly Speaker election slated for June 16

Lieutenant Governor has convened the first session of the 15th Assembly of Puducherry on June 16 when the election of the Speaker would be held, a release from the Secretary to Assembly R Mounisamy said on Saturday.

The House would have its meeting at 9.30 AM on that day, the release said. Under Rule 9 (2) of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of Legislative Assembly of Puducherry, the nominations for the election of Speaker would be received by the Secretary till noon on June 15, it said.

The nomination forms can be had from the Secretary, and necessary intimation has been sent to all the members in this regard, it added.

There has been a long delay in the induction of the ministers and the election of the Speaker as the NDA partners — the AINRC and BJP — could not come to a consensus.

Meanwhile, Lt.Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan directed Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar to inquire into the allegations that a huge amount was spent on her two advisors for the last two months.

In a letter to Kumar on Friday night, she asked him to submit a detailed report to her in this regard, a Raj Nivas release here on Saturday said.

It may be noted that Raghupathy of the Rajiv Gandhi Human Rights Forum had obtained details under RTI that a sum of Rs.24.05 lakh was spent on the two advisors of Lt Governor — Dr C Chandramouli and Dr AP Maheswari — during the last two months towards their salary, vehicles and renovation and purchase of furniture for their houses.