TRIVANDRUM, 17 September 2004 — Congress party’s Therambil Ramakrishnan was elected the new speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly yesterday defeating Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) rival A. K. Balan. He scored 94 votes against 39 votes received by the CPI-M candidate put up by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) opposition. From the treasury benches, former Chief Minister A. K. Antony, Labor Minister Babu Divakaran, Congress member Mercy Ravi and Kerala Congress (M) member Elizabeth Mammen could not cast their votes while CPI-M’s deputy legislative party leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Communist Party of India (CPI)’s Girija Surendran were absent from the opposition benches.