Chandigarh, Mar 16 (PTI) AAP's newly-elected MLA Inderbir Singh Nijjar was sworn in as Protem Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday.

Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath to Nijjar at Raj Bhawan here. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was also present at the event.

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Nijjar will administer oath to the newly-elected MLAs on Thursday when a three-day session of the new House will begin.

Nijjar, a radiologist, defeated Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Talbir Singh Gill by a margin of 27,503 votes from Amritsar South assembly segment in the 2022 Punjab assembly polls.

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Meanwhile, the cabinet formation of the Bhagwant Mann-led government in Punjab is likely to take place on March 19, AAP sources said here.

Names of several MLAs, including Harpal Singh Cheema, Aman Arora, Baljinder Kaur, Kultar Sandhwan, Saravjit Kaur Manuke, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Budh Ram, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, Jeevanjyot Kaur, Dr Charanjit Singh, are doing the rounds for ministerial positions.

Earlier in the day, AAP leader Bhagwant Mann took oath as Punjab chief minister at a ceremony thronged by tens of thousands of people in freedom fighter Bhagat Singh's village, where he promised to fight unemployment and corruption in the state.

“The work will start from today itself. We will not waste even a single day. We are already late by 70 years,” he said at the public meeting at Khatkar Kalan village in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district. Later in the day, he assumed charge at his office in Chandigarh.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) romped home winning 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly, decimating the Congress and the SAD-BSP combine.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)