New Delhi, July 8
Twenty-seven of the total 57 newly elected members of the Rajya Sabha on Friday took oath as members of the House, as among them were Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal.
Vice-President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha M Venkaiah Naidu administered the oath owing allegiance to the Constitution as required to commence their functioning in the chamber of the Upper House.
The 27 members, who from 10 states, took oath in nine languages — 12 in Hindi, four in English, two each in Sanskrit, Kannada, Marathi and Odia and one each in Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.
During an interaction with some leaders and members of the House after the oath-taking ceremony, Naidu clarified that those elected members, who are still to take oath, also can vote in the presidential election on July 18.
Responding to queries, he elaborated that from the date of the notification of the winners in the elections to Rajya Sabha, they are deemed to be members of the House and making oath or affirmation is only a prerequisite for the newly-elected members to participate in the proceedings of the House and of its committees.
The newly elected and re-elected members who took oath on Friday also include Jairam Ramesh, Vivek K Tankha and Mukul Wasnik (all of Congress), Surendra Singh Nagar, K Laxman, Laxmikant Vajpayee (all BJP), Jayant Chaudhary, Kalpana Saini, Sulata Deo and R Dharmar.
