Ex-CM Kamal Nath takes oath as member of Madhya Pradesh assembly

Bhopal: Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath on Monday took oath as member of the Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly.

Newly elected Congress MLA Sohanlal Valmiki was also sworn in on Monday.

The state assembly polls were held in November 2023.

Congress veteran Kamal Nath, who won the election from Chhindwara assembly seat, was not in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal when the newly elected MLAs were administered the oath during a special session of the state assembly here last month.

On Monday, speaker Narendra Singh Tomar administered the oath of office and secrecy to Nath and Valmiki in the meeting hall of the state assembly.

Nath had defeated his BJP rival Banti Sahu by 36,594 votes from the Chhindwara assembly seat.

Congress MLA Valmiki won the election from Parasia seat in Chhindwara district by defeating BJP candidate Jyoti Dehariya by a margin of 2,168 votes.

Nath was replaced as the state Congress president after the party's poor performance in the 2023 state assembly polls.

The ruling BJP recorded a thumping victory by winning 163 seats in the 230-member MP assembly.

The Congress, which had bagged 114 seats in 2018, notched up victories in just 66 segments this time, while the Bharat Adivasi Party pocketed one seat.