PANJIM: All four newly-elected Members of the Goa Legislative Assembly were sworn on Tuesday. With this the strength of the House has been restored to 40.
Officiating Speaker Michael Lobo administered the oath to Subhash Shirodkar (Shiroda), Dayanand Sopte (Mandrem) and Joshua DSouza (Mapusa) of BJP and Atanasio Monserrate (Panjim) of the Congress.
Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, Deputy CM Manohar Azgaonkar, Ministers Rohan Khaunte, Mauvin Godinho, Jayesh Salgaokar, Deepak Pawaskar, Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, MLAs Ganesh Gaonkar, Alina Saldanha, Churchill Alemao and Tony Fernandes, were present for the swearing-in ceremony. Families and well wishers of the elected members were also present.
In the 40-member Assembly, BJP is the single largest party with 17 MLAs, followed by Congress with 15. Goa Forward Party and Independents are at three each while MGP and NCP has one member each in the House.
Speaking to media persons after the swearing in ceremony, Sawant congratulated the elected members and expressed confidence that all will work together for the betterment of the State.
