Gandhinagar, September 24: Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama was conferred with the "best MLA award" for 2020, while Congress legislator Mohansinh Rathva received the honour for 2019 in the state Assembly on Thursday.

Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi announced the awards on the fourth day of the state Assembly's Monsoon session here. The state Assembly started these awards for the first time this year since the formation of Gujarat in 1960, the Speaker said.

Both legislators received a silver trophy weighing 1.5 kg from Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and other senior leaders in the House. While 76-year-old Rathva, a 10-time Congress MLA, represents Pavi-Jetpur seat of Chhotaudepur, 70-year-old Chudasama represents Dholka seat of Ahmedabad.

Earlier in February, a decision was taken to institute the award, and in June, the rules and parameters were finalised, following which a selection committee was constituted under the chairmanship of the Speaker.

"Before finalising our rules, we studied rules, regulations and parameters adopted by the Parliament and legislative Assemblies of other states," Trivedi said, while announcing the awards in the House.

Some of the parameters included knowledge about parliamentary procedures, conduct in the House and in public life, attendance and cooperation in maintaining decorum of the House, he said. The chief minister congratulated both the senior legislators and said he was confident that this new tradition will encourage other members to walk in the footsteps of the award-winning MLAs.