190 MLAs in Rajasthan administered oath

Jaipur, Dec 20

A total of 190 of the 199 newly elected members of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly were administered the oath of secrecy on Wednesday. The rest of the MLAs will take the oath on Thursday.

The first session of the 16th legislative assembly began at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma took the oath first and was 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 Sanskrit.

Yoonus Khan has rebelled for not getting a ticket from the BJP. He contested the elections as an Independent candidate and won.

Besides, those who took the oath in Sanskrit included Gopal Sharma, Chhagan Singh, Jogeshwar Garg, Noksham Choudhary, Jetanand Vyas, Pabbaram Vishnoi, Mahant Pratappuri, Babu Singh Rathore, Deepti Maheshwari and Kailash Meena.

Former CM 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 Saraf saying that it was not included in the VIII schedule of the Constitution.

The MLAs who were absent on Wednesday 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.

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 colourful tribal attire.

Independent MLA Ritu Banawat came to the Assembly on a tractor while BJP legislator Jethanand Vyas came while riding a motorcycle.

Meanwhile, Congress MLAs came to the house wearing black ribbons on their arms in protest against the suspension of MPs in Parliament.