Delhi Assembly session begins today, AAP govt looks to discuss poll promises

New Delhi: The newly sworn-in Aam Aadmi Party government is looking to initiate discussions on its poll promises, including women's safety and cheaper electricity, in the brief two-day session of the Delhi Assembly, which begins on Monday.

The session will also see the newly elected legislators being administered oath while the new Speaker, too, would be elected during the two-day sitting.

A senior member of the House will be nominated as the pro-tem Speaker for administering the oath to the newly-elected 67 lawmakers from AAP and three from BJP.

On the second day, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung will address the House with his speech to provide a glimpse of the policies of the new government. The pro-tem Speaker will then help elect the Speaker and the deputy Speaker.

Sources said that the AAP government would straight away want to discuss its poll promises like cheaper power and free water although they would probably not get much time for that due to the short duration of the session.

Last year, former Congress MLA Choudhury Mateen Ahmed was the pro-tem Speaker while former AAP MLA MS Dhir was elected as the Speaker.

Dhir, who later quit AAP, contested on a BJP ticket this time but lost his Jangpura seat to AAP's Praveen Kumar by a margin of about 20,000 votes.

It has to be seen whether the AAP government will give the Leader of Opposition's post to BJP, which has only has three MLAs.

It would also be interesting to see the seating arrangement in the House, which can seat a total of 108 members. Each MLA is allotted a numbered seat according to a plan prepared by the Assembly secretariat.