Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Kumar Sinha was on Wednesday elected as the Speaker of the 243-member Bihar Assembly. 

Sinha, the candidate for the ruling NDA coalition, won 126 votes, 12 more than the opposition Grand Alliance candidate, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, who polled 114 votes, PTI reported. 

Opposition members created a ruckus in the house prior to the voting, objecting to the presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying he was a member of the legislative council. 

However, the objection was overruled, with the chair ruling that Kumar’s presence in the house is legitimate as he is the leader of the house. 

The RJD-led Grand Alliance leaders also demanded a secret ballot vote, although pro tem Speaker Jita Ram Manjhi proceeded with a voice vote despite complaints from opposition. 

Chief Minister Kumar, both his deputies, Tar Kishor Prasad and Renu Devi, along with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav escorted Sinha to the Speaker’s chair.