Gujarat: Newly elected MLAs sworn in

The by-elections, held earlier this month, were necessitated after eight sitting Congress MLAs resigned from the party and Assembly membership ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in June. The eight who resigned included Pradhyumansinh Jadeja, Brijesh Merja, Akshay Patel, Jitu Chaudhari and J V Kakadiya.

Eight newly-elected MLAs of the ruling BJP in Gujarat on Thursday took oath as members of the Assembly in a ceremony held at the state secretariat in Gandhinagar. Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi administered the oath to Pradhyumansinh Jadeja (elected from Abdasa seat), Brijesh Merja (Morbi), Akshay Patel (Karjan), Jitu Chaudhari (Kaprada), J V Kakadiya (Dhari), Atmaram Parmar (Gadhada), Vijay Patel (Dang) and Kiritsinh Rana (Limbdi).

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel were present at the ceremony and they congratulated the newly-elected legislators. The BJP's strength in the 182-member state Assembly has now gone up to 111, an official release said.

Before the bypolls, all these eight seats were with the opposition Congress. The by-elections, held earlier this month, were necessitated after eight sitting Congress MLAs resigned from the party and Assembly membership ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in June.

The eight who resigned included Pradhyumansinh Jadeja, Brijesh Merja, Akshay Patel, Jitu Chaudhari and J V Kakadiya. These five later joined the BJP. They were given tickets by the ruling party and they eventually emerged victorious.

The by-elections to the eight seats were held on November 3 and results were declared on November 10..

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