Six newly-elected legislators, four from Congress and two from the BJP took oath as members of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.
Four-time MLA Sudhir Sharma (BJP) from Dharamshala took the oath followed by Lahaul-Spiti first-time Congress MLA Anuradha Rana. They were followed by other MLAs, including Congress MLA Ranjit Singh Rana from Sujanpur, BJP MLA from Barsar Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Congress MLAs, Rakesh Kalia and Vivek Sharma, from Gagret and Kutlehar, respectively.
Besides, Anuradha Rana Ranjit Singh Rana (Sujanpur), and Vivek Sharma (Kutlehar) are the first timers.
These MLAs were elected in the recently held by-polls on June 1.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, and other MLAs were also present during the oath-taking ceremony.
The elections in the six Assembly constituencies were necessitated after six Congress rebel MLAs were disqualified for defying the party whip to vote in favour of the state government during the budget.
State Legislative Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania congratulated the MLAs expressing the hope that they would contribute meaningfully and raise issues related to the state and welfare of the public in the House.
Presently, the strength of Congress in the 68-member House is 38, while that of the BJP is 27.
Another by-election is due to be held on July 10, after the Assembly constituencies have fallen vacant following the three independent MLAs joining BJP. The Speaker accepted their resignation on June 3.
The results will be announced on July 13.
The chief minister, talking to media persons after the oath-taking ceremony, accused the BJP of having tried to destabilise the elected Congress government in the state by buying six rebel Congress MLAs. “Out of these six MLAs who joined the BJP and contested on the party ticket, four were defeated,” he said.