Bhubaneswar, May 16: Former finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat was today unanimously elected as the 20th Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly.

His election was a mere formality, as the Opposition parties had fielded no candidate against the official BJD nominee. Yesterday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik filed a notice of motion in favour of Amat's candidature.

Amat today succeeded Niranjan Pujari, who had resigned on May 5 and later became the industries and urban development minister on May 7.

The 65-year-old lawyer-turned-politician, had resigned as the finance and health minister to become the Speaker for the second time. Earlier, he had held the office of the Speaker from May 2009 to May 2014. He has been getting elected to the Assembly from the Boudh constituency in west Odisha for four consecutive terms since 2000.

The election to the Speaker's post was held at a brief special sitting ahead of a two-day special session of the Assembly to be convened on May 18 and 19 to pass special legislation on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and amend the Odisha Value Added Tax Act.

The chief minister moved a motion in the House, proposing to elect Amat as the Speaker, which was seconded by parliamentary affairs minister Bikram Keshari Arukh. Deputy Speaker Sananda Marandi put the motion to vote. Amat was declared elected unopposed after a voice vote.

Naveen, leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra and BJP Legislature Party leader K.V. Singh Deo congratulated Amat.

Welcoming him, Mishra said it would have been better had the Opposition parties been consulted before the nomination of candidate by the ruling party. "It would have enhanced the dignity of the House," he said.

Singh Deo hoped that the Speaker would conduct the proceedings of the Assembly with impartiality and give equal opportunity to all to take part in discussions in the House.

Amat, in turn, sought co-operation from all for smooth conduct of the Assembly proceedings.

In a related development, the nomination papers filed by BJD leader Pratap Keshari Deb for the lone Rajya Sabha seat yesterday, were declared valid after scrutiny today. Deb's election is a foregone conclusion as the ruling BJD has sufficient strength to win the seat. The Opposition being aware of this fact did not even think in terms of putting up a candidate.