Oath Taking Ceremony Archives - Lokmarg

Pushpa Kamal Dahal Takes Oath As Nepal’s New PM

By LokMarg 26th December 2022

CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ was on Monday sworn in as Prime Minister of Nepal.

He was sworn in by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari a day after his appointment as Prime Minister following fresh elections in the Himalayan nation.
Dahal, also known by his nom de guerre Prachanda, was appointed PM for the third time after he secured the support of 169 members of the Parliament to form the new government.

He served as Prime Minister of Nepal from 2008 to 2009 and again from 2016 to 2017.

Prachanda approached the President for his appointment as Prime Minister after a coalition of six parties decided to support him to form the next government. The general elections did not produce a clear winner.

The unexpected decision came after the CPN-Maoist Centre abruptly severed ties with Sher Bahadur Deuba’s Nepali Congress party which had been in power along with its allies.

Former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal–Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) is among the parties in the new ruling coalition.

Prachanda and Oli have struck an agreement to govern the country on a rotational basis, with Oli agreeing to make Prachanda Prime Minister first as per the latter’s demand.

Ironically, in 2021, it was after the Prachanda and Oli split that Sher Bahadur Deuba came to power in Kathmandu, with support from Prachanda.

“A coalition of six parties have decided to project Pushpa Kamal Dahal as the Prime Minister. An agreement has been reached. Dahal will lead the government for two-and-a-half years and the CPN-UML will be in power in the remaining two-and-a-half years,” Barshaman Pun, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) had said.

In the new coalition, the CPN-UML has 78, Maoist Center 32, Rastriya Swatantra Party 20, Rastriya Prajatantra Party 14, Janata Samajbadi Party 12, Janamat Party 6 and Nagarik Unmukti Party has four MPs. Three independent lawmakers are also supporting Prachanda.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday congratulated Prachanda on being appointed as Nepal’s PM.

“Warmest congratulations @cmprachanda on being elected as the Prime Minister of Nepal. The unique relationship between India and Nepal is based on deep cultural connections and warm people-to-people ties. I look forward to working together with you to further strengthen this friendship,” PM Modi said in a tweet. (ANI)

Gujarat: Bhupendra Patel To Take Oath As CM on Dec 12

By LokMarg 8th December 2022

The new chief minister of Gujarat will be sworn in on December 12 at 2 pm, state BJP chief CR Paatil said on Thursday as the party swept the Assembly polls with a record-breaking margin.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will take part in the oath-taking ceremony.
Bhupendra Patel will take oath as chief minister of Gujarat for the second time. He was first elected as BJP legislative party leader on 12 September 2021.

“Gujarat CM will take oath at 2 pm on 12th December. PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will take part in the oath ceremony,” CR Paatil said while addressing a joint press conference with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel after the trends suggested BJP’s majority in the state, empowering the party to form the government for the seventh time in the state.

“Bhupendra Patel will be the chief minister again,” he confirmed.

Patel said that the BJP humbly accepts the mandate of the people of Gujarat, while also reassuring the public of the party’s commitment to public service.

“The results of Gujarat elections are quite clear. People have made up their minds to further continue with the journey of development in Gujarat. We humbly accept the mandate of the people. Every worker of BJP is committed to public service,” the Chief Minister said.

According to the latest trends by the Election Commission till 2 pm, the BJP has won 11 seats so far and is leading on 156 seats, which if solidifies, will be a historic victory for the party.

The BJP, if manages to win 156 seats in the state, will not only thrash its own record of winning the highest ever by the party in the 2002 Assembly elections with 127 seats but also break the record of getting the highest number of seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections in 1985 by the Congress’ Madhav Singh Solanki government which had won 149 seats.

The exit polls had suggested that the BJP will come to power for the seventh time in the state with a thumping majority.

The counting of votes for the Gujarat Assembly elections began on Thursday at 8 am.

The counting in Gujarat began at 37 centres in 33 districts.

Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi said that 182 counting observers, 182 election officers, and 494 assistant election officers are on duty for the counting process. There will be an additional 78 Assistant Election Officers for the counting of votes. In addition, 71 additional Assistant Election Officers have been assigned responsibility for the electronically transmitted postal ballot system in the previous polls

Assembly elections in Gujarat were held in two phases on December 1 and 5 respectively.

The approximate voter turnout in Gujarat by the end of the second phase of the Gujarat elections was recorded at 59.11 percent.

During the first phase of polling on December 1, Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 63.14 percent. While polling for 68 assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh was held on November 12.

Meanwhile, the exit polls have indicated a clear win for the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat.

BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 27 years with Prime Minister Narendra Modi remaining in the Chief Minister’s post for the longest time before becoming the Prime Minister. Congress gave a tough fight to the ruling BJP in the last assembly elections in 2017. However, AAP may spoil the game for Congress by taking away a significant vote share in their favour. (ANI)

Pramod Sawant Sworn In As Goa CM

By LokMarg Publishing 19th March 2019

BJP leader Pramod Sawant was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Goa by Goa Governor Mridula Sinha at Raj Bhavan in the wee hours of Tuesday. Union Minister and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari was also present at the ceremony.

In addition, 11 other leaders, who were part of erstwhile Goa Cabinet, including Sudhin Dhavalikar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Vijay Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party (GFP), and BJP MLA Vishwajit Rane, to name a few, took oath as Cabinet ministers.

Speaking to ANI after taking oath as chief minister, Sawant said his aim is to complete the projects that were initiated under Parrikar’s leadership.

“I have taken oath as Chief Minister today. I feel we must proceed together with the support of the allies. The aim is to complete all the work that had begun under Manohar Parrikar’s government. I may not be able to perform as well as him (Parrikar), but I will try my best,” he said.

The Chief Minister’s post went vacant following the death of Parrikar on Sunday evening after a prolonged illness.

43-year-old Sawant represents Sanquelim assembly constituency. His wife, Sulakshana Sawant is the president of the women’s wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa.

Goa Assembly has a strength of 40 members with four seats lying vacant due to deaths of two legislators, including Parrikar and resignation of two others. The by-polls on the three seats are scheduled to take place on April 23.

BJP currently has 12 legislators and enjoys the support of legislators from GFP, MGP, and three independents. GFP and MGP each have three MLAs.

Congress, on the other hand, has 15 MLAs in the house and is also short of the majority mark without external support. However, it had also, for the third time in two days staked claim to form a government in Goa. (ANI)