Assembly revived, newly elected legislators sworn in

Imphal, March 08: Pro-tem Speaker of the 8th Manipur Legislative Assembly, former chief minister RK Dorendro today administered the oath of office to the newly elected members of the Assembly at the newly reconstructed Assembly Hall at 1 pm today. Except for chief minister Okram Ibobi, who is currently in New Delhi, and Dorendro himself, who was administered his oath as MLA and pro-tem Speaker by the Governor, Ved Prakash Marwah this morning at 10:30 at the state Raj Bhavan, all the remaining 58 candidates elected in the 8th Assembly elections were sworn in as members of the Assembly during the ceremony that spanned two and a half hours. The first MLA to be sworn in was A Aza, first-time MLA from Chingai constituency, who took the oath in English. He was followed by Md Abdul Salam of VVagabai A/c, and the rest of the newly elected MLAs in alphabetical order. Wungnaosliang Keishing, of Phungyar constituency, and Z Mangaibou, representing Tamei constituency were the last to take the oath of office as MLAs. Nearly half of the elected MLAs were sworn in English, while the rest took their oath of office in Manipuri. Among the latter was the Mao MLA, RK Theko. After the swearing-in ceremony, the MLAs belonging to the Secular Progressive Front trooped onto a waiting deluxe bus to return to their camp at Mantripukhri, amidst sarcastic remarks from the Opposition People's Democratic Alliance members about excursion trips. In the meantime, the Governor, Ved Prakash Marwah, in exercise of the powers vested in him under clause I of Article 174 of the Constitution, has summoned the first session of the 8th Manipur Legislative Assembly at 11 am of March 12 in the reconstructed Assembly hall. The election to the post of Speaker will be held the same day. The Indian National Congress MLA from Saikot A/c, TN Haokip, is tipped to be the next Speaker, though there is talk of the INC's Th Debendra and the MPP's O Joy being contenders for the post.