Assam Assembly Begins First Session with Multilingual Oath Ceremony
May 21, 2026
The first session of the 16th Assam Legislative Assembly commenced on Thursday, marking the beginning of proceedings for the newly elected representatives with a strong emphasis on constitutional tradition and linguistic inclusivity.
Pro-tem Speaker Chandra Mohan Patowary administered the oath of office to the members of the House. In a significant move to recognise Assam’s cultural and linguistic diversity, tribal MLAs were allowed to take oath in their respective mother tongues following a request made by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The Chief Minister was the first member to take oath, followed by ministers Ajanta Neog, Rameswar Teli, Charan Bodo and Atul Bora. Charan Bodo took oath in the Bodo language, while senior leader Biswajit Daimary chose Sanskrit for his oath ceremony.
Members belonging to the Karbi and Koch-Rajbongshi communities were also permitted to use their native languages after submitting written transcripts of the oath to the Speaker’s office in advance.
Later in the day, NDA-backed BJP leader Ranjit Kr. Das was elected Speaker of the Assembly unopposed.
The session will continue until May 26, with Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya scheduled to address the Assembly on Friday.
