Bhagwant Mann, new Punjab Cabinet to be sworn-in on March 16

Chandigarh : After registering a landslide victory in Punjab Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Chief Minister-designate Bhagwant Mann and his Cabinet colleagues will be sworn-in on March 16, it was announced on Friday.The AAP recorded a thumping win in the Assembly polls by winning 92 of the 117 seats. The ruling Congress won 18 seats, a massive decline from 77 it had won in 2017, while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could manage only three seats.Mann won from Dhuri by a margin of over 58,000 votes.Earlier on Friday, Mann met AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal at the latter’s residence in the national capital, where Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was also present.

After AAP swept Punjab on Thursday, Mann had announced that the new Cabinet would take oath of office at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, and not at the Raj Bhavan.Mann, who dons Bhagat Singh’s trademark ‘basanti’ (yellow) turban, also said that no government office will carry photographs of the Chief Minister. Instead, photos of Bhagat Singh and B.R. Ambedkar will be put up on the walls of all government offices.Meanwhile, outgoing Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit here on Friday and submitted his resignation.