Agartala, March 12 – The ruling BJP’s legislative party proposed veteran tribal MLA Ram Pada Jamatia as the Speaker of the Tripura Legislative Assembly on Thursday night.
A BJP leader said that the legislative party decided to nominate Jamatia as the next Speaker during a meeting held here.
Chief Minister Manik Saha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath, state BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee, incumbent Deputy Speaker Ram Prasad Paul, and other senior leaders were present at the meeting.
The BJP state unit extended congratulations to Jamatia following the proposal. The party leader also stated that the BJP's two allies – the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) – have expressed their support for Jamatia in the Speaker’s position.
Senior tribal leader Ram Pada Jamatia was elected in the 2023 Assembly elections from the Bagma Assembly constituency in Gomati district.
The election for the new Speaker became necessary following the death of the sitting Speaker, Biswa Bandhu Sen, on December 26 last year.
Sen, a four-time MLA, passed away at the age of 72 at a private hospital in Bengaluru on December 26, 2025, after undergoing medical treatment for more than four-and-a-half months.
Meanwhile, the Budget session of the Tripura Assembly will begin on Friday (March 13), with Governor Indrasena Reddy Nallu scheduled to address the House on the opening day.
The detailed schedule and business of the upcoming session were finalized at a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) held on March 6.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath said that the state government would introduce three bills in the Assembly to establish three new universities – Tripura Women’s University, Tripura University of Health Sciences, and Tripura Technical University.
The Minister also said that Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy will present the Budget for the financial year 2026–27 on March 16.
He will also table the Supplementary Budget for the financial year 2025-26 in the House. Roy will present the third Budget of the BJP-led government's second term.
The Budget session will continue until March 25, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said.
The Budget is expected to provide a higher allocation to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), as the 30-member tribal autonomous body is likely to go to crucial polls in April.