Rahul Narwekar files nomination for Maharashtra Assembly Speaker post for second term

The BJP’s decision to retain Narwekar as the Speaker is attributed to his experience in conducting the Assembly. As an advocate, he has a strong understanding of complex legal issues, which had made him the frontrunner for the Speaker post in his first term.

Narwekar’s election to the Speaker post on Monday is almost a certainty as the Mahayuti has the majority of 240 votes against the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadis’ 48.

When elected to the post in 2022 at the age of 44 years, Narwekar was Maharashtra’s second-youngest Assembly Speaker. Congress leader Shivraj Patil, who became the Speaker at 42, was the youngest to hold the office in the state.

Narwekar started his political career with the undivided Shiv Sena in the late 1990s. He was the spokesperson of the party’s youth wing. In 2014, he left the Shiv Sena to join the NCP led by Sharad Pawar. He unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections in Maval on an NCP ticket. In 2019, he joined the BJP and won the Colaba Assembly seat for the first time.

Narwekar’s first term Speaker was challenging with the splits in the Shiv Sena and the NCP. Eknath Shinde along with 40 MLAs had walked out of the Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray. With both factions alleging they were the real Shiv Sena, the matter landed in court as well as before the Speaker. On July 3, 2022, the Supreme Court asked the Speaker to decide the petitions to disqualify MLAs from the Shiv Sena factions.