Inaugural 3-day session of Punjab Assembly begins as AAP govt kicks off

The MLAs will be administered oath by Inderbir Singh Nijjar, the AAP MLA from Amritsar South, who has been appointed the pro tem speaker. This will be followed by the election of the Speaker. Nijjar was administered the oath of office by Governor Banwari Lal Purohit at a simple ceremony at Punjab Raj Bhawan.

Chandigarh: A day after AAP leader Bhagwant Mann took oath as the 17th Chief Minister of Punjab, a 3-day assembly session is beginning today with the newly elected MLAs in the 117-seat assembly to take oath on the inaugural day.

The MLAs will be administered oath by Inderbir Singh Nijjar, the AAP MLA from Amritsar South, who has been appointed the pro tem speaker. Nijjar was administered the oath of office by Governor Banwari Lal Purohit at a simple ceremony at Punjab Raj Bhawan.

It may be mentioned here that when a new government is formed, the pro tem Speaker is appointed first and all the new MLAs are sworn in by him/her. As for the election of the speaker, according to the selection process, one of the elected MLAs will recommend an MLA to be the Speaker and some other MLAs will agree to it and then the Speaker will be elected. The Aam Aadmi Party currently has 92 MLAs elected out of a total of 117 seats and therefore the Speaker is to be appointed on the recommendation of the ruling party.

Chief Minister Mann was sworn in on Wednesday at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, in SBS Nagar in presence of AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and senior party leaders. CM Mann sought the support of the people saying he is “like the people and will remain like the people. Improvement will require the support of the people”.

Mann also asked all newly elected MLAs “not to be arrogant”. “Everyone has to respect the people. Those who did not vote for us should also be respected,” he added. He also thanked the people and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal.