Shanno Devi (born 1 June 1901) was an Indian politician was the first woman speaker of a State Assembly in India. She was member of the Indian National Congress from the state of Punjab. She was the speaker of the

Haryana Legislative Assembly The Haryana Legislative Assembly or the Haryana Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral state legislature of Haryana state in India. The seat of the Vidhan Sabha is at Chandigarh, the capital of the state. The Vidhan Sabha comprises 90 Members of L ...

from 6 December 1966 to 17 March 1967, and the deputy speakers of the Punjab Legislative Assembly from 19 March 1962 to 31 October 1966.

Political career

Devi was from the Indian National Congress party and represented the

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

City West constituency (1951 to 1957) and the Jagadhri constituency (1962 to 1966) of the Indian state of Punjab. Devi was first elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly (then undivided India) in 1940 from Multan defeating the son of Ganga Ram by about 6000 votes. She was re-elected for the same seat in 1946 by defeating her closest rival candidate by 19000 votes. In the following election of 1951, she contested on behalf of Indian National Congress and she won against Parkash Chand of the Bhartiya Jan Sangh by about 8000 votes, and was elected again as a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly in the 1962 assembly election on an Indian National Congress ticket by defeating Inder Sain of the JS by about 5000 votes. On 6 December 1966, she joined Haryana legislative assembly as its first speaker, where she also served as a deputy speaker.

Personal life

Devi was born in Multan, then undivided India. Her father Lal Sait Ram Khanna was a Government servant. Devi graduated from

Kanya Maha Vidyalaya Kanya Maha Vidyalaya(The Heritage Autonomous Institution) (KMV) is a women's college located in Jalandhar, Punjab, India, offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and diplomas. It has approximately 4000 students and a campus of aroun ...

, Jalandhar and started indulging into politics as a student leader, holding posts as district president of the congress party. After the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

she moved to Punjab, India. She was elected twice to the Punjab Legislative Assembly and then to

References

External links

Punjab Legislative Assembly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Shanno Women in Punjab, India politics 1901 births People from Multan Year of death missing Indian National Congress politicians from Punjab, India