The swearing-in ceremony for members of the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet has begun at Raj Bhavan in Shimla.
MLA Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Prime Minister Vilbhadra Singh, was sworn in as a minister. A total of seven MLAs, Dr. Dhani Ram Shandil, Chander Kumar, Harshwardhan Chauhan, Jagat Singh Negi, Rohit Thakur, Anirudh Singh and Vikramaditya Singh, have been sworn in as ministers.
Himachal Pradesh | MLA Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Prime Minister Virbhadra Singh sworn in as minister pic.twitter.com/TcQbQe3tmg
— Ani (@ANI) January 8, 2023
The ceremony was attended by Himachal Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Allekar, CM Sukhvinder Singh Suk and Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri.
This comes after Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Suk earlier announced that a cabinet expansion would take place soon, in which case a list of 10 people was submitted to the party’s high command.
A list of potential ministers has been handed over to the party’s high command, and an expansion will only take place after the list has been cleared by parliamentary speaker Malikaljun Kalge, Suku said.
Former Prime Minister Birbhadra Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh and eldest MLA Dani Ram Shanthil are among seven new lawmakers slated to take office in the Himachal Pradesh cabinet, the news agency said. The PTI reported, citing party sources.
Sandil, 82, defeated his son-in-law for the Solang parliamentary seat and Vikramaditya was elected from the Shimla region.
In addition, Harshwardhan Singh Chauhan, a five-time MLA from Silay, will be sworn in, a top party source told the PTI on Saturday. Chander Kumar, Jagat Singh Negi and Rohit Thakur, all of whom are his MLAs for five terms, will be sworn in as ministers on Sunday, they added.
An expansion of Himachal’s cabinet is likely to take place on Sunday or later, Mr Suk said after returning from Delhi after he held talks with party leaders on the matter.
It should be noted that there are 10 vacancies in the Council of Ministers as the total number of ministers including the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Himachal Pradesh cannot exceed 12.
Representatives were given to 3 of Hill County’s 12 districts. CM Sukhu of Hamilpur, Agnihotri of Una, Bhatiyyat Kuldeep Pathania from Chamba, five times his MLA, presided over the parliament, news agency PTI reported.
One pastor is expected from the tribal areas of Lahore, Spiti and Kinnaur. Kangra and Shimla, with 10 and 7 parliamentary MLAs respectively, are expected to be given shares in the state cabinet.
Sukhu previously said the cabinet would be expanded in consultation with parliamentary high command and would include a mix of experts, youth and representatives from different sections.
Sukhvinder Singh Suk became chief minister of the hill state after the parliament won 40 out of 68 seats and won the vote in the state legislature.
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