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The council of ministers under the leadership of Hemant Soren in Jharkhand is set to take oath on Thursday, as confirmed by officials. Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar will administer the oath at the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi, marking an important step in the formation of the state government.
The swearing-in ceremony will begin around noon with Stephen Marandi, the Protem Speaker of the assembly, taking his oath. Marandi, a senior member of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), was appointed Protem Speaker following Hemant Soren's swearing-in as chief minister on November 28. Following Marandi's oath, the remaining ministers will take their oaths.
Congress leader Rajesh Thakur confirmed that the final list of ministers has been prepared and will be sent to the governor by Chief Minister Hemant Soren. "Everything has been finalised. The list will be sent to the governor by the CM. It is an alliance government. We fought together, and the people elected us. We will work together for the development of the state," Thakur said.
Speculation has been rife over the ministerial appointments, with the Congress expecting to secure four berths in the new cabinet. Sources within the party have suggested that Congress MLAs Irfan Ansari, Deepika Pandey Singh, Radhakrishna Kishore, and Shilpy Neha Tirkey are likely to be sworn in as ministers.
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Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which performed better than expected in the assembly elections, securing victories in four out of the six seats it contested, is expected to receive one ministerial berth. The party had only secured the Chatra seat in 2019, where Satyanand Bhokta emerged victorious.
The remaining cabinet positions will be allocated to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which won 34 out of the 43 seats it contested, marking its best-ever performance in state assembly elections. The Congress, which secured 16 seats, and the RJD, with four seats, have formed a crucial part of the ruling alliance. The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPI(ML)L) also won two seats under the INDIA alliance.
The JMM-led alliance achieved a landslide victory in the recent assembly elections, securing a total of 56 seats in the 81-member assembly. The opposition BJP, meanwhile, secured 21 seats, emerging as the second-largest party in the state. The assembly session is scheduled to take place from December 9 to 12, following the formation of the new government.
As per PTI, the oath-taking ceremony marks the culmination of a lengthy political process that will see the formation of a cabinet capable of leading Jharkhand for the next term.
(With inputs from PTI)
