PM Modi, senior Ministers take oath as members of 18th Lok Sabha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of his Council of Ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, took the oath as members of the 18th Lok Sabha as its first session began on June 24.

The Delhi High Court is set to pronounce its order on Tuesday on ED’s plea for stay on the trial court’s judgment which granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy scam case.

A vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain would pronounce the order at 2:30 pm on Tuesday, June 25.

Unusual’ for HC to reserve verdict while granting interim stay on bail order: SC on Kejriwal case The High Court had on Friday reserved the judgement on the ED’s plea for stay appeal. It had said until it delivered the order on ED’s application, the bail order would remain stayed. On June 20, in a relief to Kejriwal, Rouse Avenue Court’s Vacation Judge Niyay Bindu passed the order granting him bail in the case.

However, on June 21, the ED rushed to the High Court as the district court’s judge had rejected a request for stay for 48 hours to file an appeal.

Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED, had argued that the trial court’s bail order was “perverse” as it was contrary to the mandate of Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He also claimed the trial court had given sufficient opportunity to the ED to represent its case. Kejriwal’s counsel claimed the trial judge had granted bail through a reseasoned order. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singvhi, appearing for Kejriwal, said that the ED’s approach was “deplorable”.

On June 26, the Lok Sabha Speaker will be elected. On June 27, President Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to address the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament.

This is the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha after the general elections, which saw the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secure 293 seats and the INDIA bloc win 234, with the Congress holding 100 of them.

18th Lok Sabha is a path to ‘Amrit Kaal’: PM Modi

The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha commenced on Monday with all the newly-elected members of the Parliament, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, taking oaths. This historic session marks the first time a swearing-in ceremony is being held in the new Parliament building since Independence.

Prime Minister Modi addressed the newly elected MPs, emphasising the significance of this session.

He said, “Today is a day of pride for our democracy. This election is particularly notable as, for the second time since Independence, a government has been given the mandate to serve for a third consecutive term.”

Underscoring the importance and the scale of the general elections, PM Modi said, “The world’s largest election was conducted in a great and magnificent manner. This third term reflects the people’s recognition and acknowledgement of our party’s intentions, policies, and contributions towards the public. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the nation for this opportunity.”

This Parliament sessions comes after the general elections and the Opposition is buoyed by its good show that restricted the BJP below the majority mark. The Prime Minister has returned to the top post with the support of NDA allies and the Opposition plans to use its numerical strength to corner the government on the House floor.
Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy took the oath in Kannada, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Odia, Ports and Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Assamese, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu and Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy in Telugu and Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi in Kannada.

Kumaraswamy is from the JD-S and Naidu is from the Telugu Desam Party.

Union Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy Shripad Y Naik took the oath in Sanskrit.

Earlier in the day, B Mahtab took the oath as a member of the new House as well as that of pro-tem speaker at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Before the proceedings started, all members stood in silence for a few seconds to mark the solemn occasion of the first sitting of the new House.