PORVORIM: In the absence of a full-fledged Chief Minister, the eighth Goa Legislative Assembly was constituted with 39 newly elected members of the House taking Oath, in their preferred language, on Tuesday.
This is probably for the first time in the State history that MLAs have been administered Oath of Office, even before the State government is in place.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and pro-tem Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar presided over the special sitting of the Assembly during the swearing-in of the newly-elected MLAs. Earlier on Monday, Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai administered oath to Gaonkar as pro-tem Speaker of the House.
While 17 MLAs took Oath in English, 15 opted for Konkani language while seven read their oath in Marathi.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party in Goa winning 20 seats in the 40-member state Assembly and decimated Congress to 11 seats.
Independent candidates bagged three seats while two seats each went to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
Revolutionary Goans Party and Goa Forward Party (GFP) got one seat each.
Three female MLAs- Jennifer Monserrate, Deviya Rane and Delilah Lobo- are part of 40-mmeber House. Rane and Lobo have made their maiden entry.
A total of 19 new MLAs have entered Goa Assembly.
Some MLAs preferred to clad in suits, some in a vest and some in shirts for the swearing-in ceremony, which was attended by their family members and supporters in large. It was a full-packed House.
Talking to media persons outside the Assembly, Congress MLA Digambar Kamat claimed that this was the first time in the history of the state that the MLAs were sworn in without a government in place. “This incident is happening for the first time in the history of Goa but we have to also see the Constitutional provision….if Government is not sworn in, I don’t think we can keep MLAs without oath for long…the term of the House is also ending today,” he said.
Governor had on March 12 dissolved the last State Legislative Assembly.
Earlier, before the oath ceremony, two MLAs reached the Assembly building on two-wheelers- Revolutionary Goans party St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar came riding pillion on a motorcycle with his mentor and his party head Manoj Parab.
Besides, Independent MLA Antonio Vas, who won from Cortalim Assembly seat, arrived on a scooter. He said that he preferred riding the two-wheeler to avoid traffic jam on the Zuari bridge and reach the Assembly on time.
