Kishore Kumar Mohanty elected Orissa speaker

Kishore Kumar Mohanty, a leader of Orissa's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), was on Tuesday elected as speaker of the state assembly. He was elected by voice vote after the Congress party boycotted the voting saying it had not been consulted by the BJD. Mohanty’s name was proposed by the ruling coalition on Monday, while the Congress did not field any candidate.

Born in 1958, Mohanty started his political career in 1984 as a councillor to the local urban body. He became the chairman of Jharsuguda municipality in 1992 and held the post till 1995. Mohanty is a third time MLA from Jharsuguda and worked more than 4 years as Government’s chief whip hoped to win the hearts of all members of the House barring their party affiliations. Mohanty has been elected to the assembly from Jharsuguda constituency in 1990, 2000, and 2004. He was working as chief whip of the ruling coalition in the assembly since May 2004. The speaker's post was lying vacant following the resignation of Maheswar Mohanty on March 31 after a women employee of the assembly accused him of sexual harassment.