Puducherry, May 25 (IANS): All India NR Congress (AINRC) MLA K. Lakshminarayanan, who has been appointed the pro-term Speaker in the Puducherry Assembly, will assume charge on Wednesday.

Lieutenant Governor (additional charge) Tamilisai Soundarrajan will administer the oath of office and secrecy to him at the Raj Bhavan.

After assuming charge, Lakshminarayan will administer the oath of office to the elected and nominated members of the Puducherry Assembly at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

The incumbent pro-term Speaker was elected for the fifth time in a row from the Raj Bhavan constituency in the Assembly elections held in the Union Territory on April 6, the results of which were declared on May 2.

While he was elected twice on a Congress ticket in 2011 and 2016, Lakshminarayan had won on the ticket of Congress splinter groups, Puducherry Makkal Congress in 2001 and Puducherry Munnetra Congress in 2006. Ahead of the Assembly elections in 2021, he quit the Congress and joined the AINRC.

The AINRC headed National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won the elections following which AINRC chief and former Chief Minister N. Rangasamy was sworn-in as the CM.

Immediately after the swearing-in, the Chief Minister developed Covid-19 symptoms and was treated at a private hospital in Chennai.

In the elections, the AINRC-led NDA won 16 out of the 30 seats with AINRC winning 10 seats and the BJP securing the other six seats.

The Cenral government nominated three BJP leaders to the House, taking the toll of the party to nine the 33- member Puducherry Assembly.

In the opposition camp, the DMK won six seats while the Congress could manage just two seats. As many as six seats were won by Independent candidates.