Five-day J&K Assembly session to commence from November 4

Rahim Rather or Nazir Gurezi likely to be new speaker; BJP may get Deputy Speaker post

SRINAGAR: The five-day session of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly will begin on November 4.
On the first day, the speaker and deputy speaker will be elected, followed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha's speech.
The preliminary schedule for its inaugural session, which begins on November 4, was released by speaker pro-tem Mubarak Gul on Tuesday. The Srinagar Assembly complex will host the five-day session, which ends on November 8.
The assembly complex was set up and maintained for the inaugural session of the UT legislature. When the PDP-BJP administration was in power in the former state, the last session of the legislature was conducted in the Jammu branch.
As per the provisional calendar, the election of the Speaker and the Lieutenant Governor’s address to the House will take place on November 4th. On November 5, obituary references for former MLAs who passed away since the last session of the erstwhile assembly will be held.
Discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the LG’s address will occur on November 6th and 7th. On the last day of the assembly session, November 8th, a discussion on the Motion of Thanks will occur on the LG’s address and the reply thereto.
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the speaker's election. According to sources, MLA Chrar e Sharif Abdul Rahim Rather will be the party's candidate for the post. However, the name MLA Gurez Nazir Gurezi is also popping up.
Sources in the government say the speaker's name will be finalized by the National Conference in a day or two. Reports suggest that a meeting will likely be held at the Party Headquarters of the National Conference, which will be attended by all the MLAs and other party leaders.
NC has 42 lawmakers, compared to its coalition Congress's six and NC's five independents. A total of 55 lawmakers, including Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami, an MLA for the CPI (M), support the NC-Congress administration. With 29 members in the assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a chance to become deputy speaker.