Bhubaneswar: The special session of Odisha Assembly commenced today with a swearing-in ceremony of all elected members at the Legislative Assembly building here.

On the first day of the two-day swearing-in programme, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, two deputy chief ministers KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida took oath as the members of Odisha Legislative Assembly.

Later, eight cabinet ministers and five ministers of state with independent charge were administered the oath as the MLAs.

From BJD, the party supremo and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who has been elected from Hinjili Assembly Constituency, was sworn in as the legislator of the House. For the first time, he took the oath as the MLA from the opposition party that ruled the state for the last 24 years.

Pro-tem Speaker Ranendra Pratap Swain administered the oath of office to the elected members.

The first day of two-day oath-taking event will continue till 5 PM today. The remaining members will take oath tomorrow at the House. The Speaker will be elected on June 20, the concluding day of the 3-day special session of Assembly.

It was a significant day for the newly-elected members, who made debut in the Legislative Assembly as the MLA. The party hoppers, who won the elections, also expressed their pleasure to enter the House after victory.

"Of course, this is a big day for me. I am elected to serve people of my constituency," said Seemarani Nayak, who has been elected from Hindol Assembly seat on the BJP ticket.

The three-time MLA, who had represented Hindol during last two consecutive terms from the BJD, joined the BJP and got the MLA ticket after the BJD denied her ticket for the elections 2024.

"I won the polls as I am connected with people since years. I failed to get the ticket from the BJD due to conspiracy against me plotted by some leaders who were in-charge of ticket distribution. As the BJD supremo had brought me to the politics, I have immense respect for him. If I was allowed to meet Patnaik during that time, I would have got the ticket. However, the BJP believed in my potentials and offered me the ticket. People voted the BJP to power as they wanted to change the government this time. I will continue serving people in which party I may be," she said while entering the Assembly building for oath-taking.

Worth mentioning, the BJP formed the government for the first time in Odisha with simple majority having 78 seats following victory in the Assembly polls 2024. Naveen-led BJD, which was in power in last five terms consecutively in the state, slipped to the second spot with 51 seats. Even the party failed to retain a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections.