SHIMLA: Six MLAs, who have been elected in the bypolls to the Himachal Pradesh assembly, took oath on Wednesday.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, cabinet ministers and MLAs were also present on the occasion.
Himachal Pradesh Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania administered the oath to Sudhir Sharma (Dharamsala), Anuradha Rana (Lahual and Spiti), Captain Ranjit Singh (Sujanpur), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Rakesh Kalia (Gagret) and Vivek Sharma (Kutlehar).
The bypolls were necessitated after six Congress MLAs were disqualified for cross-voting in February's Rajya Sabha polls against the party's nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Congress won four of the six seats, while the BJP won two.
Congress strength in the House now stands at 38, while the BJP has 27 MLAs.
Sukhu later said that claims by the BJP to form a government in the state have failed as people elected four Congress candidates in the bye-elections.
The Chief Minister said his government will continue its endeavour to make Himachal Pradesh self-reliant and the government has been taking various decisions in this regard.
He said people of state have rejected "politics of horse-trading."
Sukhu said Congress is fully prepared for the upcoming three assembly by-elections, which have been announced by the Election Commission after resignation of three independent MLAs was accepted by the Speaker.
The three MLAs had also voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election.