Supporters and followers of the newly elected legislators will be provided special passes for the first session of the fifth Assembly on Monday and even the ones who do not get a pass will be treated with utmost respect, Pro-tem Speaker Stephen Marandi said on Saturday. Marandi chaired a meeting with top officials of the State Government in Ranchi and gave necessary instructions related to the first day of the Assembly session.
“Necessary arrangements will be made to ensure that supporters of the newly-elected MLAs are given the due respect. Special passes will be issued for supporters of the legislators. These passes will be given only for January 6 and January 8,” said Marandi.
The first session of the fifth Assembly will be held in the old Vidhan Sabha building as the new Vidhan Sabha building, where the former Government held a special session, is not yet ready for use, officials said. Soon after the meeting on Saturday, Chief Secretary DK Tiwari said that the legislators will also be able to take oath in the local languages and the Government will ensure that every attendee is treated with the due respect.
Foolproof security arrangements have also been made in and around the Vidhan Sabha building to ensure that the sea of supporters, expected to visit the Vidhan Sabha area, do not cause any inconvenience to the common public. “All necessary arrangements have been made,” said Tiwari.
The oath taking ceremony of the newly-elected legislators will also be telecast live on various TV Channels, said Marandi, adding that the people of Jharkhand should get an opportunity to see their legislators take oath on their respective TV sets. “The legislators can take oath in any Constitutional languages of their choice,” said Marandi. Santhali, spoken across the Santhal Pargana belt, is one of the eight Constitutional languages in India.
The Russian Hostel, which has been used as Vidhan Sabha building since the formation of Jharkhand, is all decked up for the first session. The building has been painted and cleaned for the first session on Monday.
JMM and its allies — Congress party and RJD — won the Assembly elections and limited Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to only 25 seats. At least 30 JMM legislators, 16 Congress party legislators and one RJD legislator will sit on the treasury bench in the Assembly.