Senior legislator Om Prakash Sharma was on Friday appointed the protem chairman of the legislative council in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, officials said.
The move follows the end of the tenure of the incumbent, Ganesh Shankar Pandey. Sharma will hold the post from January 16 till the date when a full time chairman is formally elected.
Had the house been in session, the council would have elected a chairman but since it is not, Governor Ram Naik, with the powers vested in him by the constitution, appointed the senior-most member of the house to the post, the official added.
Pandey, along with 33 other members of the upper house of the assembly, completed his term on Friday, principal secretary of the legislative council, Mohan Yadav said.
