By IANS,
Lucknow : Veteran Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mata Prasad Pandey was Friday elected unopposed speaker of the Uttar Pradesh state assembly.
This would be the second stint for the 70-year-old Pandey, who was earlier speaker of the Vidhan Sabha between 2003 and 2007.
Pandey had filed seven sets of papers Friday and was the lone candidate for the post of speaker. His candidature was supported by the ruling Samajwadi Party, the main opposition Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Peace Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Congress and several independent legislators.
Known for his simple living, Pandey is a six-time legislator from Itwa seat in Siddharthanagar. He hails from an ordinary Brahmin family and has been associated with the socialist movement right from his student life. A law graduate, Pandey was first elected to the state assembly in 1980 and thereafter won in 1985, 1989, 2002 and 2007.