THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an interesting move, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed General Administration Department (GAD) to arrange the swearing-in ceremony on Monday in case the LDF government returns to power. The assembly poll results will be announced on Sunday and the directive to hold the swearing-in event the next day was necessitated by the worsening Covid situation in the state.
The swearing in will be a low-key affair and held in the Raj Bhavan. Either the CM only or him and three or four senior ministers from constituent parties will be sworn on on the day.Government sources told TNIE that the directive was given to the GAD top bosses earlier this week which to them appeared a strange and overconfident move. Normally, the front that wins assumes power a few days after the verdict. In the 2016 assembly polls, the verdict came on May 19 and Pinarayi was sworn in as CM six days later.
“Usually there is a brief interval between the announcement of results and the swearing-in ceremony. However, here the CM has done away with that gap and for the officers it appeared to be an outlandish move. However, it could have been the grim Covid scenario that prompted him to give such a directive,” said a government source.
CPM and Pinarayi Vijayan have been vocal about their chances to return to power and that confidence has got a shot in the arm with exit polls pointing towards an LDF win. This too could have prompted the CM to issue the instruction.
As per protocol, a new government can be sworn in after the incumbent CM submits his resignation to the Governor. The winning front then should hold a parliamentary party meeting and elect the next CM, who will then meet the Governor and stake his claim for forming a government.
If Pinarayi has to re-assume his office the very next day of the poll results, he would have to rush through all the above procedures in a day, which appears difficult but not impossible. In the special circumstances, chances are high that LDF parliamentary party will meet online and elect Pinarayi as its leader.