Himanta Biswa Sarma sworn-in as Assam CM, 13 MLAs also take oath
Himanta Biswa Sarma is the 15th chief minister of Assam, and the second Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) CM of the northeastern state. Sarma succeeds party colleague Sarbananda Sonowal in office.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Himanta Biswa Sarma was on Monday sworn-in as the new chief minister of Assam, a day after he was elected "unanimously" as the leader of the BJP's legislature party in the state. Sarma, who was administered oath of office by Assam governor Jagdish Mukhi in Guwahati, is the 15th chief minister of the northeastern state.
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The oath of office was also administered to 13 newly-elected MLAs of the BJP and its alliance partners, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the United People Party Liberal (UPPL).
BJP president JP Nadda was present at the swearing-in ceremony of Sarma, who is only the second BJP chief minister of Assam, succeeding party colleague Sarbananda Sonowal, who completed a successful five-year-term after being handed the state’s top job post the BJP-led alliance's victory in the assembly elections here in 2016.
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Besides Nadda, former CM Sonowal also attended the ceremony. BJP chief ministers from Assam’s neighbouring northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland were present as well, news agency ANI reported. The new Assam chief minister is also the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).
Earlier in the day, then CM-elect Sarma visited the iconic Kamakhya and Doul Gobinda temples in Guwahati.
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A former leader of the Congress who joined the BJP in 2015, Sarma played an instrumental role in the BJP-lead alliance winning the recently-held assembly elections in Assam. While the BJP won 60 of the 93 seats it contested on, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI) website, together the alliance won 75 seats, thus crossing the majority mark of 64 in the 126-member assembly.
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The polling for the Assam assembly elections took place on March 27, April 1 and April 6. The counting of votes for all 126 constituencies took place on May 2.