Ahmedabad, February 13 BJP MLA Purnesh Modi and Congress legislator Shailesh Parmar filed their nomination papers on Friday for the post of deputy speaker of the Gujarat assembly, for which elections will be held on February 16, the first day of the assembly's Budget Session.
Modi is expected to win, as the BJP has a clear majority with 162 seats in the 182-member assembly, while the Congress has only 12 legislators. The elections were necessitated by the resignation of incumbent Jethabhai Bharwad in December last year, who cited his "busy schedule" as the reason.
State Agriculture Minister Jitu Vaghani accompanied Modi when he submitted his application to assembly secretary CB Pandya at the assembly secretariat in Gandhinagar. Speaking to reporters, Vaghani expressed confidence that Modi would become the next deputy speaker of the assembly.
Later, Congress leader Shailesh Parmar also filed his nomination in the prescribed form. He told reporters that, although his party does not have the required strength in the House, he had filed his nomination to "uphold constitutional values and assembly traditions, as this post is usually given to the opposition".
Modi, who has been an MLA for three terms, represents the Surat West Assembly constituency. He won by-elections from the seat in 2013 and subsequently retained it in 2017 and 2022.
He came into the limelight in 2019 when he filed a criminal defamation case against Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi for a speech in which he used the Modi surname to compare Prime Minister Narendra Modi with fugitives Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi.
The Budget Session of the Gujarat assembly will begin on February 16 and continue until March 25, with the Budget for 2026-27 being presented by Finance Minister Kanu Desai on February 17.
The session will have 26 sittings, according to an official release.