Chennai, May 11 : The first session of the 16th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly began on Tuesday with the swearing-in of the newly elected MLAs.

Pro-tem Speaker K Pichandi administered the oath of affirmation to the newly elected members.

Chief Minister M K Stalin was the first to take oath as member of the Assembly and he was followed by Leader of the House and Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan.

Later, all the Ministers, barring Tourism Minister M.Mathiventhan and Backward Classes Welfare Minister S S Sivasankar, who have tested positive for corona, were sworn in as members by the pro-tem speaker.

Both the COVID-infected Ministers were under self isolation at their residence and they will be sworn in as MLAs later after they fully recovered from the infection.

After the Ministers, Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami of AIADMK, took oath. He took the oath in the name of God.

Then all the MLAs were called in the alphabetical order and were administered the oath as members.

A copy of the Bhagavad Gita, Bible, Quran and a copy of the Indian Constitution were kept on the oath-taking table and the members chose the book of their choice to take their oath.

Members were also allowed to take their oath, swearing by their conscience.(UNI)