First session of sixth Jharkhand Assembly to commence from Dec 9

The first session of the sixth Assembly of Jharkhand is set to begin on December 9, with the four-day session, running till December 12, marked by several significant changes in the Assembly's structure and proceedings.

The newly elected MLAs will take their oaths during the first two days of the session. Pro tem Speaker Stephen Marandi will administer the oath of office to them. On the second day, December 10, the MLAs will elect the new Speaker too.

Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar will address the Assembly on December 11. This will be followed by the presentation of the second supplementary budget for the current financial year by Finance Minister Radha Krishna Kishore.

The final day of the session, December 12, will include a discussion on the Motion of Thanks for the Governor's address and a debate on the supplementary budget.

This assembly will be different from its predecessors in several ways. For the first time, the Assembly will have 81 members instead of 82. This change follows the abolition of the constitutional provision to nominate a representative from the Anglo-Indian community, as per the 126th Constitutional Amendment passed in the Parliament in January 2020.

The ruling party holds two-thirds of the total seats in the Assembly, a first in Jharkhand’s legislative history.

Approximately one-fourth of the MLAs -- 20 -- are first-timers.

Four political parties -- the JD-U, the LJP-R, AJSU Party, and the Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) -- each have a single MLA in the House.

The main opposition BJP and the ruling alliance partner Congress, the third-largest party, have not yet elected their legislative party leaders. As a result, the Assembly will likely begin its session without a Leader of the Opposition or a designated leader for the Congress legislature party.

Earlier on December 5, 11 ministers took the oath of office and secrecy six days after Hemant Soren was sworn in as Chief Minister on November 28.

His four-party alliance secured a resounding victory in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, winning 56 seats in the elections held on November 13 and November 20 with his JMM winning 34 seats, the Congress 16 seats, the RJD four, and the CPI-ML two seats. The CPI-ML decided to stay away from the cabinet.