Jammu and Kashmir MLAs to be sworn in today

Legislators of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly will be sworn in by the protem speaker on Tuesday.

Muhammad Ramzan, secretary of the legislative assembly told reporters, "All the 88 members of the state legislative assembly will be sworn in today (Tuesday) by Protem Speaker Muhammad Shafi."

He said the six-year term of the assembly begins on Tuesday.

The assembly has 87 elected members and two nominated members to give representation to women in the assembly. Shafi was sworn in by the governor earlier.

The ceremony will be held at the state legislature complex here. The state has a bicameral legislature comprising the legislative assembly and the legislative council.

The results for the assembly elections were announced on December 23, 2014 and the 12th state assembly was constituted on January 1.

The elected members could not be sworn in because the state was put under the governor's rule on January 8 as no single political party or group of parties had come forward to stake claim to power.

The secretary of the state assembly said salaries, allowances, perks and constituency development fund (CDF) of Rs.1.5 crore annually would be available to the sworn in lawmakers.

Prominent among those being sworn in as MLAs are: Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, members of the state council of ministers and former chief minister Omar Abdullah.

After the swearing in, the assembly will elect its full time speaker.

Kavinder Gupta of the BJP will be elected as the speaker as per the terms of agreement between the ruling coalition partners - the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).