T’puram: Congress MLA Shanimol Osman was on Tuesday elected deputy speaker of the 16th Kerala legislative assembly, becoming the first woman to hold the post in 35 years.Shanimol secured 99 votes in the election, defeating CPI MLA Mohammed Muhsin, who polled 34 votes. Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan did not cast his vote.With her victory, Osman became the fourth woman deputy speaker in the history of the assembly. The last woman to hold the post was former CPI’s Bhargavi Thankappan, who served as deputy speaker of the assembly from 1987 to 1991.The voting also reflected a few absences and abstentions in the House. Of the 35 LDF members, CPM MLA C K Hareendran was absent during the voting. Two UDF MLAs — Abid Hussain Thangal and Sandeep Warrier — were also not present in the House. The three NDA MLAs abstained from the election.
