Sunday, June 7, 2026
ADVT 
India

Punjab Assembly Session Begins, Badals Absent

Darpan News Desk, 24 Mar, 2017 01:26 PM
    The first session of the newly-elected 15th Punjab Assembly began here on Friday, with swearing-in of the new members. Former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and ex-Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal remained absent.
     
    Protem Speaker Rana K.P. Singh said that 115 of the 117 legislators took oath on Friday.
     
    Only Badal senior and Sukhbir Badal, who is also the Akali Dal president, did not attend the session and could not take the oath.
     
    The Congress government, led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, took office on March 16 after the Congress swept the February 4 assembly polls, winning 77 seats.
     
     
    The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 20 seats, while its ally Lok Insaaf Party won two.
     
    The Badals' Shiromani Akali Dal won 15 seats while ally Bharatiya Janata Party won three seats. 
     
    The Akali Dal-BJP alliance ruled Punjab for a decade from 2007.
     
    The new Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be elected on Monday.
     
    Governor V.P. Singh Badnore will address the assembly on March 28, followed by a debate on the address and Motion of Thanks, besides presentation of Supplementary Grants for the 2016-17 fiscal and a Vote on Account for fiscal 2017-18 on March 29.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Delhi Still Smothered In Thick Smog, Kejriwal Likens It To Gas Chamber

    Delhi Still Smothered In Thick Smog, Kejriwal Likens It To Gas Chamber
    Delhi and the surrounding NCR remained engulfed in a shroud of smog on Saturday amid growing worries over air pollution which stayed at a "severe" level throughout the day with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal comparing the situation to "gas chamber".

    Delhi Still Smothered In Thick Smog, Kejriwal Likens It To Gas Chamber

    'Emergency-like' Government Ban On NDTV Sparks Uproar In India

    'Emergency-like' Government Ban On NDTV Sparks Uproar In India
    The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has directed the news channel to go off air from the midnight of November 8 to midnight of November 9 for allegedly breaching broadcast norms in its coverage of the January 2 terror attack on the IAF base in Punjab.

    'Emergency-like' Government Ban On NDTV Sparks Uproar In India

    Britons Suffer From 'Deliberate Historical Amnesia', Says Shashi Tharoor

    Britain has constantly suffered from "deliberate historical amnesia" about their wrong-doings during their colonial rule in India, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said here on Friday.

    Britons Suffer From 'Deliberate Historical Amnesia', Says Shashi Tharoor

    Mahatma Gandhi's Kin, Ex-NASA Scientist Kanu Ramdas Gandhi, Battles Death In Penury

    Mahatma Gandhi's Kin, Ex-NASA Scientist Kanu Ramdas Gandhi, Battles Death In Penury
    Remember that energetic little boy who led his grandfather, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi -- revered as Mahatma Gandhi worldwide -- holding his stick on the beaches of Gujarat's Dandi village during the historic Salt Satyagraha of March-April 1930?

    Mahatma Gandhi's Kin, Ex-NASA Scientist Kanu Ramdas Gandhi, Battles Death In Penury

    Kanhaiya Kumar Advocates Opposition Unity To Take On BJP

    Kanhaiya Kumar Advocates Opposition Unity To Take On BJP
    JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, jailed earlier this year for 17 days on charges of sedition, is advocating an umbrella coalition of opposition parties to take on the BJP.

    Kanhaiya Kumar Advocates Opposition Unity To Take On BJP

    Akalis, AAP Protest In Punjab Over 1984 Riots

    Akalis, AAP Protest In Punjab Over 1984 Riots
    Targetting the then Congress leadership for its alleged complicity in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) held protests on Thursday.

    Akalis, AAP Protest In Punjab Over 1984 Riots