>Union Minister Gopinath Munde’s death cast a shadow over the first day’s sitting of the Lok Sabha which adjourned for the day after paying homage to the departed leader. Union Minister Gopinath Munde died on Tuesday due to a road accident in New Delhi. Proceedings of the House began on a sombre note, after the national anthem was played out. Earlier, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath was sworn in as the Protem Speaker of the newly constituted Lok Sabha by President Pranab Mukherjee. 67-year-old Mr. Nath, a nine-term MP, was administered the oath at a simple function in the Rashtrapati Bhavan which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Minister of State (Parliamentary Affairs) Santosh K Gangwar.
The new Protem Speaker then condoled the death of Mr. Munde, whom he hailed as “man of the masses“.
Immediately after meeting for the day, Mr. Nath said the new Lok Sabha “charged with great and heavy responsibilities for the welfare of the country and our people has been elected under the Constitution.”
The House, then, observed silence as per tradition. Later, Secretary General P. Sreedharan tabled the list of newly-elected members of the >16th Lok Sabha notified by the Election Commission.
Mr. Nath sought consent of the members for taking up the oath taking exercise on Thursday. As the members agreed, Mr. Nath postponed the exercise for tomorrow.
Before adjourning for the day, the House observed silence for two minutes as a mark of respect to Munde.
The Lok Sabha bulletin said that in the wake of Munde’s death, his seat has fallen vacant.
