Srinagar, Oct 21: The newly elected members of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly were sworn in on Monday by Pro-tem Speaker Mubarak Gul.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah-led the ceremony by taking his oath in Kashmiri, becoming the first MLA to be sworn in.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary followed, taking his oath in English.
The oath ceremony marked the end of a six-year legislative gap in Jammu and Kashmir.
51 first-time MLAs were among the 86 newly sworn members. Two were absent while as Mubarak Gul had already administered oath by LG Sinha.
Shagun Parihar, the BJP MLA from Kishtwar was the youngest at 29 years old who took the oath while National Conference veteran Abdul Rahim Rather, 80, from Chrar-e-Sharief, was the oldest.
Rather, along with his NC colleague Ali Mohammad Sagar from Khanyar, set a record by being elected to the assembly for a seventh time. Sagar has served as an MLA since 1983, while Rather’s political journey began in 1977, though he lost the 2014 elections from PDP’s Candidate G N Hanjoora.
The National Conference emerged as the single largest party in the recent assembly elections, held in September and October, and has formed the government with external support from Congress, which holds six seats, CPI(M) and some independents.
