The 17th Lok Sabha kick-started today, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the leader of the House, taking oath as a Member. But, this Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to take oath in the new Lok Sabha on Monday.
According to Hindustan Times, as per the rules, the Prime Minister as the leader of the House takes oath first. The council of ministers follows the Prime Minister in taking the oath. As long as a member does not take the oath, he or she cannot participate in any business of the House. “During the [Congress-led] UPA era, the PM [Prime Minister Manmohan Singh] belonged to the other [upper] House [Rajya Sabha]. So, the leader of the House took oath first. But this time, Modi is the Prime Minister and the leader of the House,” a Lok Sabha official told the leading daily.
Even the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi might get a special slot to take the oath in the two-day-long swearing-in ceremony, officials told the Hindustan Times. In 2014, BJP veteran L K Advani and Sonia Gandhi took oath right after the ministers, keeping in mind their stature and senior positions.
“This year, Advani did not contest the election. A decision on when the UPA chairperson should take the oath would be taken on Monday morning,” another official, told the leading daily. In the meanwhile, other members of Parliament (MPs) are invited to take the oath in the alphabetical order of the states they come from after the Prime Minister and ministers are sworn in.
