Gandhinagar: 8 newly elected members of legislative assembly (MLAs) today took oath at the State assembly complex here.

They are Pradyumansinh Jadeja (Abdasa) , Brijesh Merja (Morbi) , Kiritsinh Rana (Limbdi) , Atmaram Parmar (Gadhda) , JV Kakadia (Dhari) , Akshay Patel (Karjan) , Vijay Patel (Dang) and Jitu Chaudhary (Kaprada).

While seven MLAs took oath at one go, Akshay Patel was late and therefore took oath inside the chamber of State assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi.

All 8 MLAs are from ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They were elected in recently held 8-seat by-elections, polling for which took place on November 3 and counting on November 10.

5 of 8 who took oath today were outgoing Congress MLAs. They had resigned from the State assembly ahead of Rajya Sabha election early this year. They then joined BJP and contested by-polls as BJP candidates.

With this, the strength of ruling BJP in State assembly is now 111, while Congress is down to 65, Sharad Pawar led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 1, Chhotu Vasava led Bharatiya Tribal Party 2 and independent 1.

The State assembly has 180 out of 182 MLAs at present, as two seats Dwarka and Morwa Hadaf are in litigation in the Supreme Court and the High Court and their status is unclear.

Post year 2017 general elections of Gujarat assembly, BJP won 99 seats, Congress 77, independents 3, BTP 2, NCP 1 in 180-seat assembly. Three years down the line, Congress is down to 65 while BJP is up at 111. DeshGujarat