Who Is Ritu Khanduri Bhushan? MLA To Be Uttarakhand’s First Woman Speaker

Ritu Khanduri Bhushan, an MLA from Kotdwar, is expected to become Uttarakhand’s first woman speaker. This will be the first time a woman MLA has been chosen Speaker of the Assembly since the state was formed.

The Speaker of the Assembly election will take place at 11:00 a.m. on March 26. The nomination of Ritu Khanduri Bhushan's nomination for Speaker of the Assembly has been finalised by the Bharatiya Janta Party. Monday is likely to be the start of the assembly session (March 28). The BJP has approved the choice of  Khanduri as Speaker, according to State President Madan Kaushik.

In response to a question about becoming Speaker of the Assembly, she stated that she had received hints from senior figures.

Who Is Ritu Khanduri Bhushan?

- Khanduri was born on the January 29, 1965. In 1986, she graduated with honours from Meerut University's Raghunath Girls College with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

- B.C. Khanduri, her father was the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2007 to 2009, and then again from 2011 to 2012.

- Ritu Khanduri Bhushan followed in the footsteps of her father, B.C. Khanduri, and became a BJP member in Uttarakhand.

- Rajesh Bhushan, who is also a government employee, is her husband.

- She garnered popular recognition for her social initiatives and active participation. She stood for the Uttarakhand Assembly in 2017 from the Yamkehwar (Pauri Garhwal) constituency and won with 8,982 votes, defeating fellow independent candidate Renu Bisht.

- She also has a strong base in Yamkeshwar and has fought to improve her constituency during her time as an MLA.

- The 56-year-old, won the Kotdwar seat by a margin of over 3,000 votes over existing MLA and former cabinet minister Surendra Singh Negi, who was fielded by the Congress.

As soon as the news of Ritu Khanduri Bhushan's being the first assembly speaker reached Khal village in Chamoli district, there was a frenzy of joy as she is the village's daughter-in-law. She won the election from the Kotdwar Constituency in Pauri district, where she had previously served as an MLA from the Yamakeshwar Constituency.

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(Feature Image Credit : Tribune India)