Maiden session of 15th assembly to begin today

Thiruvananthapuram: The first session of 15th legislative assembly will begin here on Monday with the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected members.
The second day, Tuesday, would be dedicated to the election of the speaker. The government had already nominated senior member and Kunnamangalam MLA PTA Rahim as the protem speaker, who was sworn in before the governor. He will control the proceedings till the speaker is elected. CPM MLA from Thrithala M B Rajesh will be elected as the speaker.
The assembly would go for a break for the next two days to meet again on Friday with the governor’s address. Governor Arif Mohammed Khan will make the policy address, and the discussion on the governor’s address will be held on June 1 and 2. While it would be the government business on June 3, finance minister K N Balagopal will present the revised budget and vote-on-account for 2021-22 on June 4.
The assembly would hold general discussion on the revised budget on June 7, 8 and 9, on June 10, there would be discussion on vote-on-account and voting. While it would be government and private members’ business on June 11, the Kerala appropriation bill for 2021 will be introduced on June 14, the last day of the first session.
The first session of the assembly will witness several interesting changes as many familiar faces will not be present, and the seating arrangements will also undergo several changes. The newcomer MLAs will mostly be seated in the back benches, while the seniors, parliamentary party leaders, ministers and others will occupy the front rows. There are 53 newcomers in the 15th legislative assembly.
The assembly this time will have only LDF and UDF members as the BJP and the Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) whose leader P C George has been a member in the assembly for the last 25 years, are both absent this time.
The ministers will be seated in the front row and second row on the treasury benches side, as per the coalition partners’ strength and seniority of the members. Among the opposition members, a major change will be witnessed as V D Satheesan will be on the chair of the leader of opposition, next only to deputy speaker’s chair in the first row. While the parliamentary party leaders of other coalition partners of the UDF — IUML, Kerala Congress (Joseph), Kerala Congress (Jacob) and Nationalist Congress Kerala— will be in the front row, senior Congress leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala are also likely to be accommodated in the front row.