The first session of 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly began with swearing-in of the newly elected 140 MLAs here on Monday.
Pro-term Speaker and Advocate PTA Rahim administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new MLAs. The swearing-in was being held in the alphabetical order.
Out of the 140 MLAs, 53 are new faces in the 15th Legislative Assembly, having the representation of a total 18 political parties.
Earlier, Mr Rahim representing the Kunnamangalam Assembly Constituency took oath as the pro-term Speaker before Governor Arif Mohammed Khan at the Raj Bhavan on Friday last.
Congress MLA M. Vincent representing Kovalam Constituency could not take oath as he had tested positive for COVID-19 and was undergoing treatment
Another Congress MLA representing Thrippunithura seat who is also in quarantine did not attend the session.
A separate arrangement was made at ‘R Sankara Narayanan Thambi Members Lounge’ to watch the swearing-in live in the video wall.
Only four family members of each MLA were allowed to enter the lounge to watch the oath-taking of the legislators.
The session is being held under strict COVID protocol. Those persons including media persons having RT-PCR/TRUNAT/RT-LAMP, Antigen negative results or on the production of a final certificate of COVID-19 vaccination were allowed to enter the Assembly complex.
Public were not allowed to enter the Legislative Assembly during the session due to surge in COVID-19 cases.
During the 14-day session, Finance Minister K N Balagopal will present the revised budget for 2021-22 and vote-on-account at 0900 hours on June 4. The session will conclude on June 14.
The election of the Speaker will be held on May 25. Though first time member M B Rajesh, representing Trithala constituency in Palakkkad, has been named as the LDF candidate for the Speaker post, the Opposition UDF had announced PC Vishnunath, representing Kundara seat, as their nominee.
Earlier, the Cabinet had formed a four-member sub-committee namely KN Balagopal, K Rajan, K Krishnakutty and AK Saseendran as its members to prepare a draft for the policy speech of the Governor, who will deliver the customary policy address on May 28.
The discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor’s policy address will be held on May 31, June 1 and 2.
