AAP MLA Ram Niwas Goel was re-elected as the Speaker of the 7th Delhi Legislative Assembly on Monday, for a second consecutive term.
Newly elected Delhi MLAs also took oath as members of Delhi Legislative Assembly.
During the ceremony, some MLAs took oath in the name of Hanuman, Allah, and Bharat Mata. While most of the MLAs took oath in Hindi, some did it in Maithili, Urdu and English. As many as 61 members took oath in Hindi, three members in Urdu, two members in Maithili, and one member each in English and Punjabi.
AAP MLAs Sanjeev Jha and Ritu Raj Govind, arrived in traditional clothes, and took the oath in Maithili.
AAP MLA Shoaib Iqbal was elected as the pro tem Speaker to administer the oath of office and secrecy to the newly elected MLAs.
BJP’s Badarpur MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who has been appointed as the Leader of the Opposition, hugged Mr. Iqbal after taking oath.
Mr. Goel’s name was proposed as the Speaker by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and subsequently elected.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Mr. Goel was elected unopposed as both AAP and the Opposition had “full confidence” in him.
“In the last five years we saw that Ram Niwas was like Bhishma Pitamah of the House of the Assembly. He also did not give any opportunity to the Opposition to complain against him,” Mr. Kejriwal said, adding that the tenure under the chairmanship of Mr. Goel will be “fulfilling”. Mr. Sisodia also congratulated Mr. Goel on behalf of all the legislators.
The leader of Opposition also congratulated Mr. Goel and said that he and his party leaders will fully cooperate in the functioning of the House and requested the Speaker to give them enough time in the Assembly, though they were less in number.
L-G to address House
Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal, will address the Assembly at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
Sixty-nine of the 70 MLAs took oath on Monday with only Aam Aadmi Party MLA Rajesh Rishi left to do so.
