After an announcement by the Protem Speaker, the State Legislative Assembly was adjourned on Tuesday for the day. As the House assembled for the day, the newly-elected members, who had not yet taken oath as legislators, including Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, Govind Singh, Usha Thakur and Atif Arif Aqueel, took oath. So far, a total of 221 members have taken oath as members of the Legislative Assembly after being elected to the 16th Vidhan Sabha. Members also paid tributes to political leaders, including former Union ministers Sartaj Singh and Dr M S Gill, who died recently.

 

On the first day of the session on Monday, as many as 207 members had taken oath and a total of 14 MLAs took oath on the second day. Some of the newly-elected MLAs yet to take oath as members of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath is not attending this session and he will take oath later, the official said. After the oath ceremony, Pro-tem Speaker Gopal Bhargava expressed grief over the death of the ex-Union ministers, including Gill, and remembered their contribution in social and political fields. Paying his tribute to them, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav recalled that Sartaj Singh had served as a corporator, MLA, MP and a minister in the State as well as at the Centre. He represented Hoshanagabad. While paying tribute to Gill, Yadav recalled his contribution in free fair elections attempts, especially introducing electronic voting machines during his tenure as CEC.

 

That has put an end to the practice of rigging polls. Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar also paid his tributes to the departed leaders. Former Assembly speaker Dr Sitasharan Sharma recalled Sartaj Singh’s valuable guidance in his personal life. Sharma credited him for bringing him into political life. The House paid tributes to former MLAs Ramdayal Ahirwar, Bhagwat Singh Patel, Kalyan Jain, Leelaram Bhojwani, Tarachand Patel and Ramlal Bharadwaj as well. Later, the House observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to the departed leaders following which the Pro-tem Speaker adjourned the proceedings for the day.