All the 140 newly elected members of the 14{+t}{+h} Kerala Assembly were sworn in as MLAs by Protem Speaker S Sarma on Thursday.

Oommen Chandy of the Congress and VS Achuthanandan of the CPI(M), respectively Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly, were among those who took their oath as MLAs.

The 14th Assembly has eight women MLAs — three of them debutants — all representing the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) that was returned to power with a massive majority.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), on the other hand, has no woman representative after PK Jayalakshmi, its lone woman MLA and minister in the previous government, failed to make it this time.

The members took their oath in the alphabetical order, so Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was the 137{+t}{+h} while Chandy came in as the 76th.

The ruling LDF has 91 members while the Opposition UDF has been reduced to 47 in the elections held on May 16.

BJP makes history The BJP made history by sending its first and only member yet into the House after senior leader and octogenarian O Rajagopal won from the Nemom constituency.

The remaining one seat belongs to PC George, an Independent, who had proved all political arithmetic wrong by winning with a massive margin from Poonjar in Kottayam in a multi-cornered fight.

New Speaker The new Speaker will be elected on Friday. P Sreeramakrishna of the CPI(M) is the consensus candidate of the ruling front. The Opposition has named VP Sajeendran of the Congress for the post.

Meanwhile, former State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, a senior Congress leader, hasa already been elected as the new Leader of Opposition.

The Assembly win convene for the second session on June 24 with the conventional address by the Governor P Sathasivam. The new budget will be presented on July 8.

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