All-woman chairpersons panel for first time in Kerala Assembly history

For the first time in the history of the Kerala Legislative Assembly an all-woman panel of chairpersons would chair the House proceedings in the absence of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

The historic decision was taken after Speaker A N Shamseer, who replaced M B Rajesh in the post, proposed to have an all-woman chairpersons panel and subsequently, two names were suggested by the ruling Left and one by the opposition UDF.

The three-member panel now comprises Asha C K from CPI, U Prathibha from CPI(M) and K K Rema of the Revolutionary Marxist Party of India, an UDF ally.

Normally, the panel includes at most one woman member.

Out of a total of 515 members who have appeared on the panel from the first Kerala Legislative Assembly to the current seventh session of the 15th one, only 32 women have been part of it.

Rema’s name was suggested by the UDF despite the presence of Congress MLA Uma Thomas in the House.