Punjab: Bhagwant Mann to take oath as CM on Wednesday

Aam Aadmi Party's Bhagwant Mann will take oath as the next chief minister of Punjab on 16 March, reported news agency ANI. He has invited party national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for the swearing-in ceremony.

He will also hold a roadshow in Amritsar on 13 March along with Kejriwal, whom he met in the national capital on Friday. 

Mann met the Delhi CM at his residence in presence of Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. He touched Kejriwal's feet and sought his blessings.

The CM-elect, who won from Dhuri assembly constituency in Sangrur district by a margin of 58,206 votes, had announced on Thursday that the oath-taking ceremony will be held at Khatkar Kalan in Nawanshahr district, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

"I will take CM's oath from Khatkar Kalan, the birthplace of Shaheed Bhagat Singh," said Mann while addressing party workers from the terrace of his Sangrur residence.

Mann also said that in his term, no government offices will have chief minister's photos. "There will be pictures of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Babasaheb Ambedkar," he said.

Born in Satoj village of Sangrur in 1973, Mann started his career as a comedian. He began his political career in 2011 with the Punjab Peoples Party, which is led by Manpreet Singh Badal. In 2012, he fought the elections from the Lehragaga constituency but lost.

Later, he joined the AAP in 2014 and contested the election from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat.

The AAP had a landslide win in the Punjab Assembly polls by winning 92 seats to form its government with a three-fourth majority in the 117-member legislative assembly.

The ruling Congress managed to secure 18 seats while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended up with two seats. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) bagged three seats while Bahujan Samaj Party managed to win a solitary seat.

In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress had won 77 seats whereas SAD could win only 15 seats, BJP netted three and independent candidates won two seats. AAP had emerged as the second-largest party with 20 seats.