Bengaluru: Senior BJP MLA Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri on Tuesday (July 30) submitted his nomination papers to Karnataka Assembly Secretariat for the post of Assembly Speaker. This came a day after former Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar resigned from the post.

Before the deadline, six-time MLA, Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri was the only one to have filed nomination papers for the post, which fell vacant after KR Ramesh Kumar quit on Monday (July 29).

"We received only one nomination, that was of Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri," an official in the Karnataka Assembly Secretariat said.

Kageri submitted his nominations to the Karnataka Assembly secretary MK Vishalakshi while Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa, BJP leaders Govind Karjol, R Ashok, Jagadish Shettar, KS Eshwarappa and S Suresh Kumar were present.

Ramesh Kumar had resigned after a 14-month-long tenure under the Congress-JDS coalition government on Monday after the three-day-old BS Yediyurappa ministry won the vote of confidence in the Assembly.

A Congress spokesperson said the party did not field any candidate because the BJP has the majority and it has been the convention of electing the Speaker unopposed.

The JD(S) spokesperson too echoed the same views. The election of Kageri would be formally announced when the Assembly meets on Wednesday (July 31), BJP sources said.

After being an active member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the Sangh Pariwar, Kageri climbed up the political ladder.

Kageri got elected to the Karnataka Assembly from Ankola seat in 1994, and since then there has been no looking back.

Kageri had also served as the minister for primary and secondary education.