Congress leader Rajni Ashokrao Patil and four other newly-elected MPs to Rajya Sabha on November 29 took oath as a member of the Upper House of Parliament.
On the opening day of the winter session of Parliament, Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu called for newly-elected members to take an oath.
Ms. Patil, 63, was the first to take the oath. She took oath in Marathi.
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She was elected to the Upper House from Maharashtra on a vacancy created by the death of her brother and sitting Congress MP Rajiv Satav in May due to post-Covid complications.
Following the long-established tradition in Maharashtra of seats going uncontested if a sitting MP dies, the BJP withdrew its candidate Sanjay Upadhyay to enable Ms. Patil to be elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)’s newly-elected members from Tamil Nadu — Kanimozhi N.V.N. Somu, K.R.N. Rajesh Kumar, and M.M. Abdullah — also took the oath.
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While Ms. Kanimozhi N.V.N. Somu is the daughter of former Union Minister N.V.N. Somu and a renowned obstetrician, gynaecologist, and laparoscopic surgeon, K.R.N. Rajesh Kumar is a part of the DMK youth wing.
With the three new MPs, the DMK now has 10 MPs in the Rajya Sabha.
Trinamool Congress’s Luizinho Faleiro, who was elected to the Upper House from West Bengal, also took the oath.
Earlier when the House met, Mr. Naidu introduced P.C. Mody, the new secretary-general of the Rajya Sabha. Mr. Mody is former chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).