JOIN USThe 16th Lok Sabha got off to a sombre start on Wednesday with the newly-elected members paying rich tributes to Union Minister Gopinath Munde, who was killed in a road accident on Tuesday.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned immediately after it paid homage to Munde, the Rural Development Minister in the Narendra Modi government.
Earlier, before the House met, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath was administered the oath as Pro-tem Speaker by President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Interestingly, Nath becomes the only Lok Sabha member for a day, as the oath-taking ceremony of 540 elected members was put off for Thursday due to Munde’s demise.
As soon as the House met, the Pro-tem Speaker, in brief remarks, said the new Lok Sabha “charged with great and heavy responsibilities for the welfare of the country and our people, has been elected under the Constitution”.
As per convention, the members stood in silence for a while to mark the solemn occasion of the first sitting of the 16th Lok Sabha.
Secretary General P Sreedharan presented to the House the list containing the names of the members elected to the 16th Lok Sabha, submitted to the Speaker by the Election Commission. Later, Nath sought the consent of the House to defer the oath-taking of the newly-elected members to Thursday, in view of Munde’s death. It was agreed to.
The House observed a minute’s silence after Nath read out the obituary reference on Munde and later adjourned the House till Thursday.
Each of the 540 newly-elected members will make the oath and affirmation when the House meets on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be the first to make the oath and affirmation. The process is expected to continue till Friday afternoon and would be followed by the election of the Speaker.