Former Leader of the Opposition in Delhi assembly Vijender Gupta who braved Aam Aadmi Party's brute majority and was marshalled out several times in the last decade will be the new speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, party leaders said.
The Rohini MLA, 61, registered his protests in the assembly as LoP during the last 10 years, being virtually dragged out of the House in 2015 and standing on the table during a session on another occasion in October 2016.
Gupta, third time MLA from the Rohini constituency, confirmed that he is the Bharatiya Janata Party's nominee for the Speaker's post.
He said immediately after taking charge as Speaker, he would ensure the tabling of the 14 CAG reports that were allegedly held back by the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
"I am very much thankful to the party for giving me this responsibility of Delhi assembly's Speaker. I will discharge this responsibility effectively," Gupta told PTI.
The BJP has 48 MLAs in the newly constituted 8th Delhi assembly while the opposition AAP has 22 legislators. The Assembly Speaker is elected by the House members.
In view of the majority enjoyed by the BJP in the Assembly, Gupta's elevation to Speaker's post is a foregone conclusion.
"The CAG reports will be tabled in the House first of all after I take charge of the Assembly Speaker. It is my duty to bring the reports before the public and I will fulfil it," he said.
In a veiled attack on AAP, Gupta said the Assembly is a temple of democracy whose sanctity must be maintained by all.
"I pray to God for good senses to prevail among those who ran the Assembly in an anarchic manner in the last year by violating the rules and regulations," he said, expecting the opposition AAP to become a part of healthy discussion in the House.
Gupta, one of the three BJP MLAs, held the post of LoP in the Delhi Assembly from 2015-2020 in a House dominated by 67 ruling AAP MLAs. Along with the other two BJP MLAs, he took on the Speaker and the AAP MLAs during the Assembly sessions.
He was marshalled out along with his two other party legislators almost invariably in every session while trying to corner AAP over public issues and opposing the assault on BJP and its national leaders by the ruling party MLAs.
In June 2015, Gupta was lifted by the marshals who held him aloft after being ordered by the Speaker to take him out as he insisted on presenting 4th Delhi Finance Commission report.
In the 2020 Assembly polls, AAP returned to power with 62 seats while the BJP was restricted to just eight seats. Gupta continued his struggles as an MLA of the opposition BJP in the AAP-dominated House. It intensified further after he took charge as LoP in August 2024.
In November 2024, Gupta was marshalled out with other BJP MLAs when he had a war of words with the ruling party legislators over law and order situation in Delhi.
The former Delhi BJP president won Rohini seat in the recent polls, defeating his AAP rival by over 38,000 votes. He began his electoral journey as a civic body councillor in 1997.
In 2013, he lost his first Assembly polls from New Delhi seat, pitted against then Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal who won the contest.
He won from Rohini in the 2015 Assembly elections and went on to hold it in the 2020 and 2025 elections as well.
© 2025