Bhubaneswar: The Odisha assembly has issued a notification for election of the speaker of the House on June 13 as BJD MLA SN Patro had recently resigned from the post, an official said on Thursday.
Patro had quit the post on June 4 but cited no reason for doing so.
However, his son Biplab Patro had said his father has been suffering from renal ailments and an eye infection.
In a notification issued on Wednesday, the state assembly OSD-cum-secretary Dasharathi Satapathy said, "...Governor has been pleased to fix June 13, 2022 (Monday) at 10.30 am for election of the speaker."
A meeting of all MLAs has been convened on that day for the purpose, he said in the notification.
Satapathy has urged all legislators to participate in the election process.
The ruling BJD is yet to announce its candidate for the post, but party sources said it could nominate former minister BK Arukha for the upcoming poll.
The election will be held days after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had on June 5 reconstituted the council of state ministers, inducting 13 MLAs in the cabinet and appointing eight others as minister of state (independent charge).
The new council of ministers has 12 fresh faces and five women.
The ruling BJD has 114 legislators in the House, while the BJP has 22, the Congress 9, CPI (M) 1, and one Independent MLA.—PTI