319 new UP MLAs take oath, Speaker's election on March 30

LUCKNOW: A total 319 out of the 403 newly-elected MLAs today took oath as members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

They were administered oath by Pro-tem Speaker Fateh Bahadur.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was present when members started taking oath.

Prominent among those who took oath today included ministers Surya Pratap Shahi, Suresh Khanna, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Rajesh Agarwal, Swami Prasad Maurya, Dharm Pal Singh, Satish Mahana, Dara Singh Chauhan, Satyadev Pachauri, Satyapal Singh Baghel, Nand Gopal Nandi, Ramapati Shashtri, Jai Pratap Singh and Brijesh Pathak.

The swearing-in of MLAs will continue tomorrow too and election of the Speaker will be held on March 30. Nominations for the post will be filed tomorrow.

Senior BJP leader and five-term MLA Hridaya Narain Dixit (69) appeared to be the front runner for the post owing to his knowledge of parliamentary practices.

A former minister, Dixit has been working as UP BJP's chief spokesman. He was BJP legislature party leader in the Legislative Council and was elected MLA from Bhagwant Nagar constituency of Unnao in the just-concluded Assembly polls.