Bangalore:
The 14th Karnataka assembly, elected early this month with Congress getting a majority and forming the government, on Wednesday started its first session in Bangalore with those elected taking oath as members of the house.
On the first day, over 140 members took oath and the remaining would do so on Thursday. The assembly has 225 members including one nominated.
The Congress won 121 seats in the election held on May 5 wresting from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which managed just 40 seats. The Janata Dal-Secular won 40 seats and the rest went to smaller parties and independents.
One constituency, Periyapatna in Mysore district, voted on Tuesday as the May polling was countermanded following the death of the BJP candidate. Its result would be out on Friday.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was the first to be administered the oath by protem Speaker Malikayya Guttedar. Guttedar was sworn-in earlier in the day by Governor H.R. Bhardwaj.
The assembly is scheduled to elect the speaker on Friday. Veteran Congress leader Kagodu Thimmappa, 82, is expected to be elected to the post.
While most of the members took oath in Kannada, the language of the majority of the people in the state, two members Arvind Chandrakant Patil and Sambhaji Laxman Patil took oath in Marathi.
The two belong to Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (Forum for merger of Marathi speaking areas with Maharashtra) and are elected from Belgaum district. Belgaum has large number of Marathi speakers and the Samiti has been demanding its merger with the neighbouring Maharashtra.