India, May 12 -- JCD Prabhakar, MLA from the Thousand Lights constituency, was on Tuesday elected unopposed as the Speaker of the 17th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

Prabhakar was accompanied by C Joseph Vijay, founder of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), during the proceedings.

As no other nominations were filed for the Speaker's post, Prabhakar was declared elected unopposed.

The veteran leader submitted his nomination papers on Monday before Assembly Principal Secretary K Srinivasan.

Prabhakar, 73, is a former All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MLA who joined TVK ahead of the recently concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

Considered one of the senior-most legislators in the ruling alliance, he played an important...