Newly-elected MLAs sworn in; 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly assumes office

Newly- elected legislators officially took the oath as Members of the Legislative Assembly at the first session of the 16th Kerala Assembly in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. Pro-tem Speaker G Sudhakaran administered the oath of office to them

Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar had sworn in G Sudhakaran on Wednesday. The remaining 139 members took the oath on Thursday.

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The swearing-in, which commenced at 9 am, was carried out in alphabetical order. V E Abdul Gafoor of Indian Union Muslim League(IUML), who represents Kalamassery, was the first to take the oath. He was followed by IUML’s Parakkal Abdulla, who represents Kuttiady. CPI’s A Ajaya Prasad, who represents Punalur, was the first opposition member to swear in.

Newly-appointed Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan took his oath at the 105th position. Former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was sworn in at the 133rd position. The last person to be sworn-in was Xavier Chitilappilly, the CPM MLA elected from the Wadakkanchery assembly constituency.

Forty two MLAs chose to “solemnly affirm” instead of taking the oath in the name of God. Those who chose to solemnly affirm included all the CPM and CPI MLAs, Congress legislators V T Balram and Sumesh Achuthan, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leaders Shibu Baby John and Vishnu Mohan and Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMP) MLA K K Rema.

Besides them, T K Govindan and V Kunhikrishnan — both former CPM leaders who left the party and contested as UDF backed independent candidates — and Communist Marxist Party Kerala State Committee (CMP KSC) legislator C P John also chose to solemnly affirm.

IUML’s Fyzal Babu, KDP’s Mani C Kappan, Congress’ Mathew Kuzhalnadan, K Muraleedharan, Ramesh Chennithala , Sandeep Varier and Ramesh Pisharody took oaths in English. IUML’s Manjeshwar MLA AKM Ashraf took oath in Kannada, while Devikulam Congress MLA F Raja took oath in Tamil

Sandeep Varier held up a book of the Constitution while taking oath and ended it with ‘jai hind’ and ‘jai sita ram’

V D Satheesan took the oath of office as an MLA for the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly on Thursday, explicitly stating his full name, Vadasseri Damodara Menon Satheesan. This action follows recent public criticism regarding his inclusion of the caste surname “Menon” during his initial swearing-in ceremony as Chief Minister

At his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, Satheesan drew criticism from some Congress leaders and social media users for using his full name.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Satheesan justified his decision, arguing that simply mentioning his father’s name was completely appropriate given the nature of the occasion.

“Why is it wrong if I mention my father’s name. Shouldn’t I remember him,” Satheesan had asked .He had also said that he wanted to mention his mother’s name too, but there was no scope for that.