176 of 182 Gujarat MLAs take oath

Out of total 182 legislators elected in the recent assembly polls, 176 took the oath for sovereignty and unity of nation on Tuesday. Those who could not attend the oath-taking ceremony include two ministers of state level in Gujarat government and four MLAs. A three-hour-long ceremony was held at cabinet ministers' offices complex in Gandhinagar.

Initially, governor OP Kohli administered the oath to pro tem speaker Dr Nimaben Acharya at governor's house and then Acharya did the formality for the members of the house including CM, Deputy CM, members of the cabinet, leader of opposition and other MLAs. The entire procedure was accomplished in a hush-hush ceremony and media persons and other people were kept away.

The pro tem speaker Acharya invited all members of the house one-by-one in chronological order starting with CM Vijay Rupani, deputy CM Nitin Patel, cabinet minister and former speaker Ganpat Vasava, followed by other members of the cabinet, leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani, whips of the assembly and other elected members.

The oath-taking ceremony was completed by a special session of the assembly. As the assembly building is under renovation, the oath-taking could not be held in the house. The results of Gujarat assembly polls were declared on December 18 and the MLAs took the oath after the period of more than a month.

The chief whip of assembly, Pankaj Desai said, "The oath-taking ceremony could not be held as the formation of government, oath taking by ministers and visits of PM Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind were scheduled before that."

"Six members of the house, including two ministers and four members, could not take the oath as they were not available. The formality will continue and the remaining members can take the oath by February 19 on which the budget session is going to start," Desai added.

The minister of state for education and women and child welfare, Vibhavari Dave, and the minister of state for fisheries, Parshottam Solanki, could not take the oath. While the BJP MLA from Nikol in Ahmedabad city, Congress MLA from Shahpur-Dariyapur assembly in Ahmedabad city Gyasuddin Shaikh, Khedbrahma MLA Ashwin Kotwal and Palanpur MLA Mahesh Patel could not take the oath as they were not available on the day.

The sources in BJP said, "Dave had gone to the United Kingdom to take part in education summit while Solanki was busy with the engagement ceremony of his son. Jagdish Panchal also was out of Gujarat for some social reason and therefore they could not attend the oath-taking ceremony."

OATH CEREMONY

Pro tem speaker Acharya invited all members of the house one-by-one in chronological order starting with CM Vijay Rupani, deputy CM Nitin Patel, cabinet minister and former speaker Ganpat Vasava, followed by other members of the cabinet, leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani.