Ganesh Mavlankar

Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar
गणेश वासुदेव मावळणकर
G.V. Mavalankar in June 1942
1st Speaker of the Lok Sabha
In office 15 May 1952 – 13 January 1956
Deputy	M. A. Ayyangar
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	M. A. Ayyangar
Constituency	Ahmedabad
Personal details
Born	27 November 1888 Baroda
Died	27 February 1956 Ahmedabad
Political party	Indian National Congress
Religion	Hindu
As of 5 July, 2009 Source: [1]

Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar (27 November 1888 – 27 February 1956) popularly known as Dadasaheb was an independence activist, the President (from 1946 to 1947) of the Central Legislative Assembly, then Speaker of the Constituent Assembly of India, and later the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. His son Purushottam Mavalankar was later elected to the Lok Sabha twice from Gujarat.

Mavalankar hailed from a Marathi family but lived and worked in Ahmedabad, former capital of Gujarat. His family originally belonged to Mavalange in Ratnagiri district of Bombay Presidency in British India. After his early education in Rajapur and other places in Bombay Presidency, Mavalankar moved to Ahmedabad in 1902 for higher studies. He obtained his B.A. Degree in Science from the Gujarat College, Ahmedabad, in 1908. He was a Dakshina Fellow of the College for one year in 1909 before beginning his law studies in Government Law School, Bombay. He passed his Law examination in First Class in 1912 and entered the legal profession in 1913. Soon. he came into contact with eminent leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Mahatma Gandhi. He became the honorary secretary of the Gujarat Education Society in 1913 and the secretary of the Gujarat Sabha in 1916. Mavalankar was elected to the Ahmedabad Municipality for the first time in 1919. He was a member of the Ahmedabad Municipality during 1919–22, 1925–28, 1930–33 and 1934–37.

Mavalankar joined the Indian Independence Movement with the Non-Cooperation Movement. He was appointed secretary of the Gujarat Provincial Congress Committee during 1921–22. Although he temporarily joined the Swaraj Party in the 1920s, he returned to Mahatma Gandhi and the Salt Satyagraha in 1930. After the Congress abandoned its boycott of elections to the pre-independence legislative councils in 1934, Mavlankar was elected to the Bombay Province Legislative Assembly and became its Speaker in 1937. Mavalankar remained Speaker of the Bombay Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1946. In 1946, he was elected also to the Central Legislative Assembly.