E-Paper
190 newly-elected members of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly take oath
Chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma took the oath first, followed by deputy chief ministers Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa, respectively
As many as 190 of the 199 newly elected members of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly took the oath on Wednesday, and the rest will take it on Thursday. Elections on 199 out of 200 seats were held in November, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated the ruling Congress.
The first session of 16th legislative assembly began at 11 am with chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma taking the oath first, followed by deputy chief ministers Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa.
While most members took their oath in Hindi, some of the leaders, including Zubair Khan (Congress) and Yoonus Khan (independent), took their oath in the Sanskrit language.
Other than these two, those who took oath in Sanskrit were Gopal Sharma, Chhagan Singh, Jogeshwar Garg, Noksham Choudhary, Jetanand Vyas, Pabbaram Vishnoi, Mahant Pratappuri, Babu Singh Rathore, Deepti Maheshwari and Kailash Meena. Vasunhara Raje also took oath.
A few MLAs expressed their desire to take oath in local Rajasthani language but were denied by pro-tem speaker Kalicharan Saraff saying that it was not included in the VIII schedule of the Indian Constitution.
The MLAs who remained absent today will be administered oath on Thursday. The election for the post of Speaker will also be held on Thursday. The BJP has already named Vasudev Devnani for the post of Speaker.
This is probably the first time in Rajasthan that the MLAs are being sworn in before the formation of the Cabinet.
Soon after the house proceedings began, Congress MLA and former parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal objected to calling the session on short notice.
The newly formed Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) MLAs came to the house in traditional tribal colourful attire, while independent MLA Ritu Banawat reached the assembly on a tractor, and BJP MLA Jethanand Vyas came riding a bike.
Meanwhile, the Congress MLAs came to the house wearing black ribbons on their arms in protest against the suspension of MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
After taking the oath, Congress MLA from Lacchmangarh (Sikar) and state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra condemned the issue of suspension of MPs but were asked to stop by the pro-tem speaker.
In the 16th legislative assembly, the BJP has 115 MLAs, Congress 69, Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) 3, BSP 2, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) have 1 each, 8 are independents while one seat is vacant
