Himachal assembly session begins, members take oath

DHARAMSHALA: The first session of the 13th Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly began here on Tuesday with pro tem speaker Ramesh Dhawala administering oath to the newly elected members of the House.

Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur was the first to be administered oath when the House assembled at 11 am. The CM took oath in Hindi.

He was followed by Mahender Singh, Kishan Kapoor, Suresh Bhardwaj, Sarveen Chaudhary, Ram Lal Markanda, Vipin Singh Parmar, Virender Kanwar, Bikram Thakur, Govind Singh Thakur and Rajiv Saizal.

Congress Legislative Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri took oath next. He was followed by former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, who is also the senior most member of the House. The former CM took oath in English.

The pro tem speaker then administered the oath to MLAS in chronological order of assembly constituencies.

The election of assembly speaker will be held on Wednesday. BJP has already submitted a resolution proposing Nahan legislator Rajeev Bindal’s name for the post. The Congress has also supported the resolution. The election of deputy speaker will, however, be held on Thursday. BJP is yet to finalise the name for the post.

Governor Acharya Devvrat is likely to address the assembly on Wednesday. Motion of thanks on the governor’s address will be presented on the same day and debate will be held.

The assembly session will conclude on January 12 with passing of motion of thanks on the governor’s address.