Newly elected MLAs of Uttarakhand sworn in as Legislative Assembly members

Dehradun: The newly-elected MLAs of Uttarakhand were administered the oath of office by Protem Speaker Bansidhar Bhagat at the state assembly in Dehradun today. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bansidhar Bhagat was sworn in as the Protem Speaker of state Legislative Assembly by Governor Lt. General (Retired) Gurmit Singh ahead of the government formation in the state.

BJP MLA Ritu Khandudi, BJP MLA Kishore Upadhyay has taken oath in Garhwali. Meanwhile, Kishore Upadhyay had to take oath in Hindi because of some technical glitch. While MLA Bharat Singh Choudhary from Rudraprayag and BJP MLA Bhopal Ram Tamta from Tharali have taken oath in Sanskrit.

Meanwhile, the BJP is set to hold a legislature party meeting in the evening where it is expected to declare the chief minister's name.

While speaking to the media Sunday, Uttarakhand BJP chief Madan Kaushik said, "The meeting of Legislative Party will be held in the evening. Thereafter, the Chief Minister's name will be announced," reported news agency ANI.

Former Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Ramesh Pokriyal met the Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence in the national capital Delhi Sunday to discuss government formation in the state.

BJP President JP Nadda and party leaders BL Santhosh and Uttarakhand minister Satpal Maharaj were also present during the meeting.

Notably, several MLAs including Rekha Arya, Ganesh Joshi, and Arvind Pandey have backed Dhami as the leader of the legislature party.

Six MLAs have also vacated their seat in order to help Dhami get elected to the House.

Pushkar Singh Dhami lost election from the Khatima constituency against Congress’s Bhuwan Chand Kapri by over 6,000 votes.

Dhami got a total of 41,598 votes, while 48,177 votes were cast in favor of Kapri, which is a vote share of 51.89 percent.

BJP won the 2022 election in Uttarakhand by securing 47 of the 70 assembly seats.

(With agency inputs)