Friday, September 9 2005 15:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Nadi (Fiji): India was today (Sept 9, 2005) elected the Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) at its 51st Conference here, with its candidate Hashim Abdul Halim winning hands down against his opponent Geoffrey Henry from the Cook Islands.

The Conference, on its concluding day, elected the West Bengal Speaker as Chairman for a term of three years.

Halim has been occupying the post in West Bengal for over two decades, making him one of the longest serving Speakers in the world.

The Indian delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had carried out a major global campaign to get Halim elected to the post. The Indian delegation included Sushma Swaraj of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jaya Prada of Samajwadi Party, who yesterday (Sept 8, 2005) took part in the special session on women's rights.