Mohan Singh Bisht (right) with Speaker Vijender Gupta.
| Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Six-time MLA Mohan Singh Bisht, whom the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated for the Deputy Speaker’s post, is all set to be elected to the chair on Thursday.

The election will, however, be held in the absence of the Opposition. Speaker Vijender Gupta had, a day earlier, suspended 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators, including Leader of the Opposition Atishi, till Friday for disrupting the House. The lone AAP MLA to avoid the suspension, Amanatullah Khan, was not present in the Assembly on Tuesday.

Following the Deputy Speaker’s election, the House will on Thursday continue to discuss the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report over the “₹2,002-crore loss to the exchequer due to the poor implementation” of the now-scrapped liquor policy.

During the course of the Assembly session, which has been extended till March 3, the Speaker is likely to table another CAG report, which pertains to the renovation of the 6, Flagstaff Road bungalow, where AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal stayed as Chief Minister from 2015 till he stepped down in October 2024.

The ruling party is expected to constitute various legislative panels over the next few days, including the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

“After all the CAG reports are tabled, the PAC, comprising 14 MLAs of BJP and AAP, will examine the reports and submit its findings to the House, which will take appropriate action,” said a BJP leader.

In the run-up to the February 5 Assembly election, the BJP had promised to table 14 CAG reports, which it claimed unearthed the “scams” perpetrated in various sectors under the previous AAP government.

Political heavyweight

Mr. Bisht was elected this year from Mustafabad, which was marred by the 2020 north-east Delhi communal riots, in which 53 people died and over 700 were injured.

How important he is for the BJP in Delhi can be gauged from the way he forced the party leadership to concede to his demands during the ticket distribution process.

On January 12, when the party issued its second candidates’ list in which it replaced Mr. Bisht from Karawal Nagar seat, from where he had been elected five times, with Kapil Mishra, he threatened to contest as an Independent.

Within hours, the party issued a third list for the Assembly election with just one name — that of Mr. Bisht, and fielded him from the adjoining Mustafabad constituency.