Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday took oath as a Member of the Legislative Assembly on the opening day of the 16th Assam Legislative Assembly.
The oath ceremony was conducted at the Assembly premises in Guwahati, where Protem Speaker Chandra Mohan Patowary administered the oath to the Chief Minister.
Sarma took the oath in Assamese, becoming one of the first legislators to formally assume office in the newly constituted Assembly following the recent state elections.
MLAs allowed to take oath in recognised languages
During the proceedings, Patowary informed members that legislators were free to take oath in any recognised language of their choice.
“All the members can take an oath in any recognised language they wish to. They can submit their oath copies to the Assembly office,” the Protem Speaker said.
Following the Chief Minister’s swearing-in, newly elected MLAs from different parties began taking oath in several languages, including Assamese, Bengali, Bodo and Sanskrit.
The multilingual oath-taking reflected Assam’s linguistic and cultural diversity, with legislators choosing languages based on their regional and community backgrounds.
NDA returns to power with massive majority
The oath-taking ceremony comes after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a decisive victory in the recently concluded Assam Assembly elections.
The NDA alliance, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, Asom Gana Parishad and Bodoland People`s Front, won a total of 102 seats in the 126-member Assembly.
The BJP emerged as the dominant party in the alliance by winning 82 seats on its own, while the AGP and BPF secured 10 seats each.
The victory marked one of the strongest electoral performances for the NDA in Assam’s political history.
Opposition records limited gains
On the opposition side, the Congress won 19 seats as part of a six-party alliance. Regional party Raijor Dal managed to secure two seats.
Meanwhile, the All India United Democratic Front and the All India Trinamool Congress contested independently and won two and one seats respectively.
The new Assembly session is expected to focus on the formation of committees, legislative business and the government’s policy agenda for the coming term.
(With inputs from PTI)