New Delhi: 182 MLAs elected in the recently held Gujarat elections took oath in the Assembly on Monday.
Officials said the oath was administered to the newly elected legislators, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, by Speaker Pro Tem Yogesh Patel, who is the senior most legislator of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the House.
If required, polling will be held on Tuesday to elect the speaker and deputy speaker of the 15th state assembly, to which the BJP has nominated Shankar Chowdhary and Jethabhai Bharwad for the two posts, respectively, officials said.
Chowdhary and Bharwad filed nomination papers at the Assembly Secretariat on Monday, while the Congress, which has only 17 seats in the Assembly, has not declared any candidate for the two posts.
With a record 156 MLAs in the 182-member House, the election of Chowdhury and Bharwad is a formality, in keeping with the tradition of Speakers being elected unopposed.
Elections to the Legislative Assembly were held on 1 and 5 December, while the results were declared on 8 December. The BJP, in its seventh straight win, got 156 seats, followed by Congress with 17 and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party with five. Three seats went to independents, while one seat was won by the Samajwadi Party.
