Senior Congress leader and former Union minister C P Joshi was elected as speaker of the 15th Legislative Assembly.
The leader of the House, Ashok Gehlot proposed his name for the speaker which was seconded by Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Katariya, and leaders of other parties and some independent candidates.
Congress MLA Mahesh Joshi has been appointed as chief whip of the party, while Mahendra Choudhary his deputy.
The 68-year-old Congress veteran took over the chair relieving pro tem speaker Gulab Chand Kataria after a voice vote.
Addressing the house after taking charge as the Speaker, Joshi said that every member will be given a chance to speak under the rules and regulations. He also appealed Assembly members to optimally utilise the time of the house. The first session of the Assembly began on Tuesday.
Joshi's journey from a college lecturer to Rajasthan Assembly speaker has been no less than a roller coaster. He completed his Masters and PhD in psychology and began his academic career as a lecturer at the University College of Social Sciences & Humanities, Udaipur.
He then moved on to become a professor of psychology at Udaipur's Mohanlal Sukhadia University, with a specialisation in intelligence quotient.
In 2003, he was appointed the president of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee and under his leadership, the party won the 2008 Assembly elections. However, he lost his seat by one vote to BJP candidate Kalyan Singh Chauhan.
In the Indian election history, he is the second person to lose an Assembly election by one vote. The first candidate to lose by a single vote was A R Krishnamurthy against R Dhruvanarayana at the Santhemarahalli constituency of Karnataka.
The former Union minister has been elected from the Nathdwara constituency. He was a Member of Parliament from Bhilwara in the 15th Lok Sabha and had served as the Union minister for road transport and highways from 2009 to 2013.