Legislators sworn in

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hundred and forty MLAs of the 13th Kerala Assembly were formally sworn in at a nearly three hour ceremony in the cavernous, brilliantly lit hall of the Kerala Assembly on Wednesday, with Pro Tem Speaker N Shakthan officiating. Majority of the MLAs took their oaths in Malayalam, while K Muraleedharan of the Congress and Shreyams Kumar of the Socialist Janata (Democratic) took the pledge in English, P V Abdul Razakh of the IUML in Kannada and S Rajendran of the CPM in Tamil. Shibu Baby John, who had opted for English when taking his oath of office as minister on May 18, switched to Malayalam on Wednesday.Sixty-one of the 68 LDF members took the atheist's oath while the remaining seven, including V Sasi of the CPI, took their oaths in the name of god. Ayisha Potty of the CPM, who had upset party colleagues in 2006 by invoking god, stuck to the atheistic line this time. Two of the 72 UDF members V T Balram and Shibu Baby John took the atheist's oath. The rest invoked the name of god. Excluding N Shakthan, who was sworn in Pro Tem Speaker last week in the presence of Governor R S Gavai, 140 members, including the nominated representative of the AngloIndian community, Ludi Luiz, took their oaths on Wednesday.A P Abdulla Kutty of the Congress was the first to take the oath as Assembly secretary P D Rajan called out the names in the alphabetical order. Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan was eighth to be called, and Ayisha Potty was the first woman member to take the oath. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was 85th on the list while former Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran was 100th. P K Jayalakshmi, the first tribal minister from Kerala, was 49th and, though an 'L,' Ludi Luiz was the last to be called.The Assembly adjourned for the day at 11.50 a.m. and will meet at 9 a.m. on Thursday to elect the Speaker. A K Balan of the CPM and G Karthikeyan of the Congress have filed nominations to the post.