Rathindra Basu, BJP MLA from Cooch Behar South constituency, is slated to be the new Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly.

BJP’s parliamentary party has chosen Basu as its candidate with the election for Speaker scheduled on Friday. Though it is unclear whether the Opposition parties will participate in the election, Basu’s victory is almost certain.

In a social media post, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said Rathindra Bose has been nominated as Speaker of the 18th Legislative Assembly. “It is my firm belief that he (Rathindra) will be unanimously elected as the Hon’ble Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly,” posted the Chief Minister.

After being nominated, Basu said, “I will fulfill the responsibility given by the party. If necessary, I will take the advice of experienced members of the Assembly.”

Basu, a chartered accountant by profession,  submitted his nomination papers on Thursday afternoon in the presence of the chief minister and other BJP MLAs. If everything goes well, Basu’s elevation as Speaker will break the tradition of political parties usually nominating a jurist or a lawyer to the post.

Basu was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for a long time. Later, he came into active politics. Through this election, Basu became a first-time MLA, defeating Trinamool’s Abhijit De Bhowmik by over 23,000 votes in Cooch Behar South.

A senior BJP leader said, “Our party is giving utmost importance to North Bengal, and this is a signal of that. I think North Bengal people will be happy with this decision.”

Basu will succeed Biman Banerjee, Trinamool MLA from Baruipur West, who was the Speaker during the Trinamool period.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Adhikari has announced that from Monday, ‘Vande Mataram’ will be introduced as a prayer song in every government school of the state. He said, “Necessary order will be published soon.”