Gujarat Assembly: 182 newly-elected MLAs take oath

Ahmedabad: The 182 MLAs elected in the recent Gujarat assembly polls took oath in the Assembly on Monday.

The newly-elected legislators, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, were administered oath by Protem Speaker Yogesh Patel, who is the senior-most Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in the House, officials said.

The elections, if needed, to choose the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the state's 15th Assembly will be held on Tuesday, with the BJP nominating Shankar Chaudhary and Jethabhai Bharwad, respectively, for the two posts, the officials said.

Chaudhary and Bharwad filed nomination forms at the Assembly Secretariat on Monday, while the Congress, which has just 17 seats in the Assembly, has not declared any candidate for the two posts.

With a record 156 legislators in the 182-member House, the election of Chaudhary and Bharwad is a formality, in keeping with the tradition of speakers getting elected unopposed.

Elections to the Assembly were held on December 1 and 5, while the results were declared on December 8.

The BJP got 156 seats in its seventh straight win, followed by 17 for the Congress and five seats for the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party. Three seats went to Independents, while one constituency was won by the Samajwadi Party.

Bhupendra Patel was sworn in as chief minister on December 12 along with 16 ministers.