THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The swearing-in ceremony of the members of the 16th legislative assembly began on Thursday. The oaths were administered before pro-term Speaker G Sudhakaran.
V E Abdul Gafoor of Indian Union Muslim League, who represents Kalamassery, was the first to take the oath. He was followed by League's Parakkal Abdulla, who represents Kuttiady. CPI's A Ajaya Prasad, who represents Punalur, was the first opposition member to swore n.
The Congress and League members took oath in the name of the god, while the communist party members took a solemn oath. The BJP members- B B Gopakumar, V Muraleedharan and Rajeev Chandrasekhar- also swore in the name of god.
League's Fyzal Babu, KDP's Mani C Kappan, Congress' Mathew Kuzhalnadan, K Muraleedharan, Ramesh Chennithala and Ramesh Pisharody took oaths in English. League's Manjeshwar MLA AKM Ashraf took oath in Kannada, while Devikulam Congress MLA F Raja took oath in Tamil.
T K Govindan and V P Kunhikrishnan, former CPM leaders who rebelled against the party and successfully contested as independents in the assembly election, also took oaths.