Reacting to the Supreme Court verdict endorsing her appointment of the three nominated BJP MLAs to the Puducherry Assembly, Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi said she was “exceedingly grateful” and “happy” at the judgment.

Ms. Bedi thanked the three MLAs for their forbearance as they went through many unpleasant situations, “sometimes highly disrespectful,” to finally achieve this judgment that validated the nomination by the Centre as per the law.

“In the end, the law prevailed and (was) upheld. They can now serve for the prosperity of Puducherry as a whole,” Ms. Bedi said.

She said she believed that “all this has happened under the Union Territories Act which governs Puducherry...and the responsibilities of us as Administrators comes under the same Act, the provisions of which have been upheld”.

Ms. Bedi said she was being helped in fulfilling her responsibility as Administrator by a team of officers in the mission to make Puducherry water-rich, safe and secure.

“We must work together...all these positions of power are given to serve the people”.

On the three nominated BJP MLAs — V.Saminathan, K.G. Shankar and S. Selvaganapathy — sworn in by her on July 4, 2017, Ms. Bedi said “the entire Puducherry is their constituency”.

BJP hails verdict

The Bharathiya Janata Party on Thursday welcomed the judgment given by the Supreme Court validating the appointment of nominated legislators.

Mr. Saminathan, who is the party local unit president, told reporters that the judgment was historic and a big win for democracy.

The three nominated MLAs would strive to work for the overall development of the Union Territory.

The MLAs would raise people’s issues on the floor of the House, said Mr. Saminathan.

The ruling Congress remained guarded in its response to the judgment. Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister K. Lakshminarayanan said: “The party will respond after going through the full judgement,” he added.