Shimla, Dec 25 (IANS): With more than 20,000 supporters cheering him on, Congress veteran Virbhadra Singh was sworn in Tuesday as Himachal Pradesh chief minister for a record sixth term with nine cabinet ministers.

Governor Urmila Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to Virbhadra Singh, 78, who has been chief minister of the hill state for more than 16 years, at the Ridge.

Virbhadra Singh, who had been chief minister in 1983, 1985, 1993, 1998 and 2003, took oath in Hindi.

The others who took oath were eight-time legislator Vidya Stokes, seven-time legislator Kaul Singh, four-time legislator G.S. Bali, Sujan Singh Pathania, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Mukesh Agnihotri, Sudhir Sharma, Parkash Chaudhary and Dhani Ram Shandil.

The chief minister told reporters later that two vacancies in the cabinet would be filled shortly and the portfolios would be allocated in a day or two. "I will soon resign as the state party chief."

Virbhadra Singh is also a Lok Sabha member.

The Congress last week won a majority with 36 seats in the 68-member assembly.

The new faces in the cabinet are Agnihotri, Sharma, Bharmouri, who is from the tribal belt, and first-time legislator Shandil, a Dalit.

Virbhadra Singh has kept Congress secretary and legislator Asha Kumari, believed to be his strong critic, out of the cabinet.

The former state education minister, Kumari is accused of grabbing government forest land worth crores of rupees by tampering with revenue records.

Outgoing BJP chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his erstwhile cabinet colleagues were conspicuously absent from the ceremony.

There was also no minister from the Congress-led central government at the event.

Virbhadra Singh took oath at 10.40 a.m. as the state's 13th chief minister. He first assumed office April 8, 1983, replacing Thakur Ram Lal.

Belonging to the erstwhile princely state of Rampur Bushahr, Virbhadra Singh entered politics at the age of 28.

The venue of the oath-taking ceremony, the Ridge, was once the only promenade for the British colonial rulers when Shimla was their summer capital.