Ex-Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar elected speaker of MP assembly
Bhopal (PTI): Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar was on Wednesday unanimously elected as the speaker of the Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly.
The first session of the newly-elected assembly began on Monday.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Wednesday moved a proposal for the election of 66-year-old Tomar as the speaker which was seconded by leader of opposition Umang Singhar.
Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also moved a proposal for the election of Tomar as the speaker which was seconded by ex-Union minister Prahlad Patel, who recently won from Narsinghpur assembly seat in the state.
Five more proposals, including by opposition Congress MLAs Ajay Singh, Jaivardhan Singh and Rajendra Kumar Singh, were also moved in favour of Tomar.
After the voice vote, pro-tem speaker Gopal Bhargava declared Tomar as elected unanimously to the speaker's post.
Tomar filed his nomination for the speaker's post on Monday with the support of the opposition Congress.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Wednesday congratulated Tomar and also thanked the opposition for unanimously electing the speaker.
Yadav said Tomar has been equally popular among the ruling and opposition leaders.
LoP Singhar, ex-CM Chouhan and other leaders also congratulated Tomar.
Tomar, who got his first electoral victory as a corporator in Gwalior in 1983, was elected from Dimani assembly seat of Morena district in the recently concluded state elections.
He held different posts, including state president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and later state chief of the BJP.
In 1998, Tomar entered the state assembly after winning from Gwalior seat.
Tomar was again elected from the same seat in 2003. He then became a cabinet minister in the BJP-led state government.
For a brief period in 2009, Tomar was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state. Later in the same year, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Morena seat.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Tomar was elected on the BJP ticket from Gwalior parliamentary seat and became Union cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi government.
Tomar's seat was changed in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when he successfully contested from Morena and retained ministerial berth at the Centre.
On December 3, the ruling BJP recorded a thumping victory in Madhya Pradesh by winning 163 seats in the 230-member assembly. The Congress, which had bagged 114 seats in 2018, won just 66 segments, while Bharat Adivasi Party candidate Kamleshwar Dodiyar pocketed the Sailana constituency.
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TVK chief Vijay declares two pending criminal cases in fresh election affidavit
Chennai (PTI): Amid scrutiny, TVK chief Vijay, who had earlier filed an election affidavit with no pending criminal cases, has declared two pending FIRs in a fresh affidavit filed before the returning officer for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections to be held on April 23.
The fresh affidavit, notarised on April 3, was filed on April 4 by a representative, according to sources. It lists two cases in Chennai and Madurai that were not included in the previous document notarised on March 30.
In the latest filing, the actor disclosed FIR number 74 of 2026 registered at the K5 Peravallur Police Station in Chennai for alleged public disturbance during election campaigning on March 30. Vijay stated in the affidavit that he became aware of this case through social media on April 2.
A second FIR, number 108 of 2025 from the Koodakovil Police Station in Madurai district, involves a complaint regarding an incident during a party conference on August 21, 2025. The complainant alleged being pushed and injured by bouncers while attempting to approach the leader during a ramp walk, though Vijay noted he has not yet received a formal summons for the matter.
While the criminal record section saw changes, the financial declarations remained largely consistent across both filings.
Vijay's movable assets are valued at approximately Rs 410.59 crore in the fresh affidavit, compared to the Rs 404.58 crore declared previously. This includes silver articles worth Rs 15 lakh and 883 grams of gold jewellery valued at over Rs 1.20 crore.
The total current market value of his immovable properties, including commercial and residential buildings in locations such as Neelankarai and Saligramam, is estimated at Rs 220.15 crore.
The TVK leader declared a total income of Rs 184.53 crore for the 2024-2025 financial year. He also listed pending income tax demands totaling approximately Rs 3.44 crore across multiple assessment years which are currently under appeal.
Vijay is contesting the elections from the Perambur and Tiruchirapalli East Assembly constituencies. He filed his first nomination for the Perambur Assembly constituency on March 30. He subsequently filed his nomination for the Trichy East constituency on April 2.
The fresh affidavit submitted in Perambur on April 4 was a supplementary filing intended to address discrepancies between the initial Perambur declaration and the one later filed in Tiruchirapalli East. The revised filing ensures the TVK chief remains compliant with Election Commission norms regarding the disclosure of all pending criminal proceedings.
