Newly elected Himachal Pradesh MLAs to take oath on Dec 22

SHIMLA: The newly elected Himachal Pradesh MLAs will take oath on December 22 when the three-day winter session of the state assembly begins, a notification issued here on Friday said.

This would be the first session of the 14th Vidhan Sabha. According to the notice, the speaker will be elected on December 23, which will be followed by the Governor's address, a debate on which would be held on December 24 and it would be passed on the same day.

Senior most member of the newly-elected assembly Chander Kumar, who is a six-time MLA and former Lok Sabha member, was appointed as pro-tem Speaker on Wednesday.

He would administer the oath to the newly elected MLAs and function as the chairman of Vidhan Sabha till the new speaker is elected.

 Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar had allocated portfolios to the newly-elected Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and his deputy Mukesh Agnihotri. Meanwhile, the cabinet expansion is awaited.

In the November 12 polls, the Congress wrested the hill state from BJP by winning 40 seats in the 68-member assembly, whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party won 25 seats with three independent candidates also emerging victorious.