New MLAs to swear in on opening day of Kerala Assembly

The 16th session of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, beginning here on Monday, would see the swearing in of five newly-elected members who had won the October 21 bypolls.

V K Prasanth, K U Jenish Kumar, T J Vinod, Shanimol Usman and M C Kamaruddin, who got elected from Vattiyoorkavu, Konni, Ernakulam, Aroor and Manjeshwaram assembly segments respectively, are the new MLAs to be sworn in on the opening day.

It is for the first time that the House is being convened after the crucial bypolls, which had seen the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) winning two seats and Congress-headed United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition three.

As in the April 22 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-NDA has failed to increase its tally from the present one in the 140-member House.

The wresting of two sitting seats from the UDF would give the ruling benches a reinforced strength to counter the attack from the opposition members during the 19 day-long session, which would be concluded on November 21.

However, the 16th session is likely to be stormy as the UDF opposition is expected to raise several allegations including corruption charges against ministers and the government as they had already raised the issues in the public platforms.

The alleged mark scandal against Higher Education Minister, K T Jaleel and the auditing row in connection with the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) are likely to be some among them.

The session would see a day-long commemorative meeting to mark the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on November 9.

Significant Bills, including 16 Bills to replace the ordinance promulgated by the Governor, would come up during the present session.

Bills that would be taken up include Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Amendment) Bill 2019, the Kerala Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers (Amendment) Bill 2019, the Kerala Cooperative Hospital Complex and the Academy of Medical Sciences and Allied Institutions (Taking over and Management) Bill 2019 and the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill 2019.

The discussion and voting on the Supplementary Demands for Grants in the budget for the Financial Year 2010-20 would be held on November 5.