The inaugural session of the newly formed 16th Rajasthan Legislative Assembly commenced on Wednesday. Newly elected MLAs from the state participated in the swearing-in ceremony. A total of 190 MLAs took the oath of allegiance to the Constitution and committed to fulfilling their duties faithfully as members of the assembly. Protem Speaker Kalicharan Saraf administered the oath to the legislators. The remaining MLAs who have yet to take the oath will do so on Thursday.
Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma was the first to take the oath, followed by Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari and Dr Prem Chand Bairwa. Wednesday marked the opening day of the inaugural session, and the second day is scheduled for Thursday. On the upcoming day, pending MLAs will take the oath, and the election for the Speaker of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly will also take place. With the BJP holding a majority, Vasudev Devnani has been nominated as the BJP’s choice for the position of Speaker.
Muslim MLAs embrace Sanskrit oaths
On Wednesday, newly elected legislators took the oath in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. While there was controversy in the assembly regarding the Rajasthani language, two Muslim legislators created a stir by taking the oath in Sanskrit. Independent legislator Yunus Khan from Didwana and Congress’ Juber Khan from Ramgarh took the oath in Sanskrit. Applause followed in the assembly as a gesture of appreciation.
In the legislative election, Yunus Khan secured victory on the Didwana seat, surprising both the Congress and BJP. Yunus Khan defeated Congress’s Chetan Singh Chaudhary by 2392 votes. On the same seat, BJP’s Jitendra Singh had won.
Yunus Khan has been a prominent leader in the BJP and was close to Rajasthan’s former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. Despite seeking a ticket from the BJP for the Didwana seat, Jitendra Singh was chosen as the candidate. Unhappy with the decision, Yunus contested independently and succeeded in winning the election.
Congress legislator Juber Khan also took the oath in Sanskrit. Juber Khan won from the Ramgarh seat, securing 19696 votes. In this seat, Sukhvant Singh of the Azad Samaj Party was in the second position, while BJP’s Jay Ahuja was in the third position.
Apart from Juber Khan and Yunus Khan, 12 other BJP legislators also took the oath in Sanskrit including Mahant Pratappuri from Pokaran, Gopal Sharma from Civil Lines, Jaipur, Pabbar Ram Bishnoi from Phalodi, Vasudev Devnani from Ajmer North, Uday Lal Bhadana from Mandal, Noksham Chaudhary from Kaman, Bal Mukund Acharya from Hawa Mahal, Jaipur, Babu Singh Rathore from Shergarh, Chhagan Singh Rajpurohit from Ahor, Jogeshwar Garg from Jalore, Kailash Chandra Meena from Gadhhi, and Jethanand Vyas from Bikaner West.
