The 18th Lok Sabha’s first session began on Monday with oath-taking by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Council of Ministers including Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and members elected to the Lok Sabha from various States.

For the first time, newly-elected members of the Lok Sabha took oath in the Lok Sabha Chamber of the new Parliament House building. The prime minister was the first to take the oath and was greeted with “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Modi, Modi” slogans.

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The proceedings began with Mr Bhartruhari Mahtab taking the chair as Pro-tem Speaker. He was appointed Pro-tem Speaker of the House by President Droupadi Murmu earlier in the day.

Mr Mahtab appealed to the members for cooperation in the conduct of the proceedings. After Mr Modi, he called names of senior Congress member, Mr Kodikunnil Suresh and DMK member T R Baalu. As there was no response, he proceeded to call others in the list.

There was some noise from Opposition benches as the Pro-tem Speaker stood up and gave out names in the panel of Chairpersons of the House, who were to preside over the House in his absence. The Opposition members showed red cover copies of the Constitution in their hands.

The oath-taking proceeded smoothly and continued the whole day. It was suspended shortly before 6 pm, to be resumed on Tuesday. The prime minister was present in the House for 1 hour 45 minutes after the House assembled at 11 am.

Dressed in saffron, pink and yellow dresses, many in their traditional attires, the members took oath in their mother-tongue, Hindi, Dogri and a sizable number of members took oath in Sanskrit. The members were congratulated by the Pro-tem Speaker.

Among the first Union Ministers to take oath were Mr Nitin Gadkari, Mr Shivraj Chouhan, Mr Pralhad Joshi, Mr Piyush Goyal, Mr Kiren Rijiju, Mr Giriraj Singh, Mr Bhupender Yadav, Mr Jyotiraditya Scindia, Mr G Kishan Reddy, Mr Chirag Paswan and Mr Mansukh Mandaviya.

There were murmurs of “NEET, NEET” from the Opposition benches when Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan came up to take the oath. Several members cheered when prominent leaders of their parties took oath.