Journalism of Courage
Advertisement
Premium

15th Gujarat Assembly MLAs sworn in; Speaker, Deputy Speaker election today

The swearing-in was done a day before the Assembly meets for its first session Tuesday when the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are likely to be elected.

The oath ceremony began with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel followed by former Speakers Ramanlal Vora and Ganpat Vasva.(Twitter/@airnewsalerts)
Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element.

The elected members of the 15th Gujarat Legislative Assembly were sworn in as lawmakers Monday during a session presided over by Protem Speaker Yogesh Patel in the House where the Opposition strength has shrunk to just 22 MLAs—17 from the Congress and five from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Despite the AAP opening their account in the Gujarat Assembly, this is the smallest Opposition the House has seen in 37 years.

It was last in 1985 when the number of Opposition MLAs dropped to such a scale when the Congress won 149 seats in the house of 182, the Janata Dal won 14 and the BJP won 11, and JD leader Chimanbhai Patel was made the Leader of Opposition.

The swearing-in was done a day before the Assembly meets for its first session Tuesday when the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are likely to be elected.

On Monday, while most MLAs took their oaths in the name of God, at least two—Congress’s Jignesh Mevani and BJP’s Karsan Solanki—took it in the name of the Constitution.

The oath ceremony began with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel followed by former Speakers Ramanlal Vora and Ganpat Vasva. This was followed by the Council of Ministers starting from the cabinet rank. Next, the women legislators took their oaths, followed by the male legislators as per the numbers of their respective constituencies.

While most of the MLAs took the oath in Gujarati, Kuber Dindor, Darshita Shah, Aniruddh Dave, Aniket Thaker, Arjun Modhwadia, Pradhyuman Vaja and Mahant Shambhunath Tundiya took the oath in Sanskrit. Two MLAs—Purnesh Modi and Dinesh Kushwah—took the oath in Hindi.

Before the oath-taking ceremony, Yogesh Patel—among the senior most legislators in the House—was sworn in by Governor Acharya Devvrat at Raj Bhavan as Protem Speaker. He was appointed the Protem Speaker last week.

Story continues below this ad

The BJP has announced the names of senior MLAs Shankar Chaudhary and Jetha Ahir (Bharwad) for the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.

The Congress—the main opposition party—has not announced any name for the two top posts. Chaudhary resigned from the post of the primary membership of the BJP as he filed his nomination for the post of Speaker in the Assembly Secretariat.

With the BJP having an unprecedented majority of 156 members in the House, Chaudhary and Ahir are likely to be elected to the two top posts.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
  • Gandhinagar Gujarat Assembly polls
Edition
Install the Express App for
a better experience
Featured
Trending Topics
News
Multimedia
Follow Us
Express ExclusiveHow Pak-based handlers used Indian SIMs smuggled by Nepali national to contact 75 Army men
X