Assam CM Oath Ceremony LIVE Updates: Himanta Biswa Sarma takes oath as Assam CM for second term; PM Modi, Amit Shah present

Ravi Kota, the Chief Secretary of Assam, on Monday issued the appointment order of the new Chief Minister of Assam on behalf of Lakshman Prasad Acharya, the Governor of Assam.

In exercise of the powers under Article 164(1) of the Constitution of India, the Governor of Assam appointed Himanta Biswa Sarma as the Chief Minister of the state.

The Chief Minister-designate, Himanta Biswa Sarma, is scheduled to be sworn in at 11:40 am on May 12, 2026, at Veterinary College Field in Khanapara, Guwahati.

Earlier on Sunday, Sarma met Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya and formally staked a claim to form the government after being elected leader of both the BJP Legislature Party and the NDA Legislature Party in Assam.

In a post on X, Sarma confirmed the development, stating that the Governor had appointed him as Chief Minister after he had staked the claim to form the next government. He also informed that the oath-taking ceremony would be held in Guwahati.

Sarma, addressing the legislature party meeting earlier, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the BJP leadership for their support, saying the government would focus on development over the next five years.

Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said that whatever decision the party high command takes regarding the chief ministerial post in Kerala will be accepted by all Congress and UDF workers in the state.

"We have conveyed whatever we had to say to the high command. They have heard everything. The rest is for them to decide," Chennithala told reporters after returning from New Delhi.

He said the delay in taking the decision is part of a democratic procedure.

Whatever decision the party high command takes regarding the chief ministerial post in Kerala will be accepted by all Congress and UDF workers in the state, he added.

Chennithala is among the three main contenders for the chief minister's post in the state. On Sunday, he had criticised the BJP amid the ongoing deliberations over the selection of Kerala's next chief minister, saying the Congress was not a party that functioned on instructions from Nagpur.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay took oath as Member of Tamil Nadu assembly at the secretariat in Chennai. The oath was administered by protem speaker MV Karuppaiah. Apart from Vijay, other TVK MLAs will also take oath as members of assembly.

This comes after the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam chief took charge as 13th Tamil Nadu CM on Sunday and also resigned as Tiruchirapalli East MLA. He will remain a member of assembly from Perambur seat.

BJP leader K Annamalai praised the win of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), asserting that the subsequent defeat of traditional Dravidian parties in the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly Election has emerged as a "black swan event" for the state.

Speaking at a roundtable during the Stanford India Conference, Annamalai said the outcome reflects a "rupture of the system," comparing it to disruptive change in startup ecosystems.

He argued that entrenched political structures had become overloaded over time and suggested that both regional and national parties had struggled to adapt beyond traditional strongholds. According to him, such an electoral outcome, though unexpected, marks a significant turning point that will shape the state's political trajectory in the coming years.

"Tamil Nadu is a black swan event... It's a good thing that it happened. Just like the startups here, a rupture of the system has to happen at some point. The system got overloaded, and national parties were also not very bold in going beyond the Vindhyas and taking the bull by its horns. The weight was too much at the top, and Dravidian political parties and language model and national parties were also afraid that this was the way to go because you want to deviate from the norm, the regional parties, the so-called partners were with you, they thought you were taking the wrong route," he said.

Newly elected MLAs, including those from Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), are set to take oath at the Secretariat in Chennai following the party's victory in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

The oath-taking ceremony is expected to witness the participation of elected representatives and government officials, while security arrangements have been intensified around the Secretariat premises ahead of the event. The swearing-in is being viewed as a significant political milestone for the party as it prepares to begin its legislative responsibilities in the Assembly.

The 17th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly has also been summoned today to meet for its first session at 9.30 AM in the Legislative Assembly Chamber, Secretariat, Chennai, where the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly will be held.

Meanwhile, newly-elected TVK leader MV Karuppaiah MV was sworn in as the Pro Tem Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar in the presence of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Sunday.

This followed the inauguration of the new Tamil Nadu government led by Vijay this morning. Chief Minister Vijay felicitated Governor Arlekar as he arrived at the Lok Bhavan to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

The appointment of Karuppaiah, the elected MLA from Sholavandan, comes at a crucial political moment in Tamil Nadu after TVK scripted a historic electoral debut in the recent Assembly elections.

The Pro-tem Speaker will administer the oath to all newly elected Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

TVK chief, actor-turned politician Vijay officially assumed charge on May 10 at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat at Fort George in Chennai, shortly after taking oath as the 13th Chief Minister of the state after securing a historic electoral victory for his party.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam accused the Congress of political opportunism, alleging that the party aligns with whichever group is in power. His remarks came after the Congress abruptly ended its years-long alliance with the DMK and allied with the TVK, with its five MLAs, backing TVK chief Vijay's bid to become Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

While speaking to ANI on Sunday, Nirupam said, "The Congress has always shown opportunism. In politics, Congress is always on the lookout for opportunities to sneak into power. They were allies of DMK and had a decades-old alliance.DMK lost the election, and a new party, TVK, emerged, so Rahul Gandhi went with them, and today he went to the swearing-in ceremony there."

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also extended his wishes to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay after he took the oath of office, saying the state had opted for a "new generation" and a "new imagination".

Tamil Nadu witnessed one of the most dramatic political transitions in its modern history on Sunday as the 51-year-old actor-turned-politician C Joseph Vijay took oath as the 13th Chief Minister of the state, ending the decades-long political dominance of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)and ushering in what he called "a new era of real, secular and social justice."

Nirupam also took a dig at the Congress over its leadership issues in Kerala after the Congress-led UDF won 102 of the state's 140 seats. However, the party hasn't finalised its chief ministerial choice yet. Congress leaders VD Satheesan, KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala are seen to be key contenders for the post of Chief Minister.

However, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Sunny Joseph on May 9 confirmed that the final decision regarding the next Chief Minister rests entirely with the party High Command in Delhi.

"They still haven't been able to decide on their Chief Minister in Kerala. They have no ideology of their own, no relationships, and no loyalty. Wherever there is power, there is Congress," he added

The Congress leadership is yet to announce Kerala’s next chief minister, with discussions continuing among the party’s top leaders despite the UDF’s strong performance in the assembly elections.

Kerala Congress chief Sunny Joseph said on Sunday that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi will soon take a final call after holding discussions with the three main contenders for the post.

The contenders, K C Venugopal, V D Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala recently met the Congress high command in New Delhi to present their claims. Party sources said senior leaders including Sonia Gandhi and veteran leader A K Antony are also involved in the consultations.

While the Venugopal camp is relying on support within the Congress legislature party, Satheesan supporters believe public backing and support from UDF allies have strengthened his chances. Chennithala, meanwhile, is banking on his seniority and long political experience.

Rahul Gandhi reportedly told all three leaders that each was capable of leading the state, but indicated that the political atmosphere was not suitable for an immediate announcement. The party leadership has also directed leaders and supporters to avoid public statements or mobilisation until a final decision is made.

Congress on Sunday claimed that Instagram has “blocked” Rahul Gandhi ’s reel and photo post featuring him and actor-politician Vijay due to the rules of the ministry of electronics and information technology, even as govt sources denied the charge.

Gandhi was in Chennai to attend the oathtaking ceremony of TVK’s Vijay as the Tamil Nadu CM and later shared several pictures with him on social media.

On X, his aide Srivatsa claimed the reel had gathered 12 million views in less than an hour, while the picture post had reached 46 million people.

“Meta cites no reason as to why his account has become inaccessible. The ‘glitch’ is because of MEITY rules! Rahul’s X reach, YouTube views, and Insta followers have been suppressed,” he alleged. This is how India’s opposition leader’s voice is curtailed, he added.

“It is clarified that MeitY had nothing to do with this. It was because of the platform’s internal system mistakenly flagging the post for blocking, which has now been restored,” aministry source said.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has raised pointed questions over the electoral process in West Bengal, suggesting that large-scale deletions from voter rolls and delayed verification of appeals may have had a decisive impact on the state's election outcome.

Referring to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Tharoor said around 91 lakh names were struck off the lists, with approximately 34 lakh individuals filing appeals claiming they were genuine voters. He noted that only a small number of these cases were adjudicated before polling, leaving the vast majority unresolved at the time of voting.

Speaking at the 'India, That is Bharat' roundtable during the Stanford India Conference, Tharoor said, "In the matter of the SIR, what I have said is a legitimate question to answer. Look at the Bengal case. 91 lakh names were struck off the rolls. Of those, 34 lakh living human beings have appealed, saying that they are around and they are legitimately entitled to vote. The rules have required each case to be adjudicated individually, so only a few hundred were adjudicated before the vote. To this day, there are some 31, 32 lakh people who might be found to have been legitimate voters in the remaining years while adjudication carries on, but they have missed their chance to vote."

Drawing attention to the scale of the figures, he observed that the BJP's victory margin, around 30 lakh votes, closely aligns with the number of pending voter appeals, raising questions about whether eligible voters were effectively unable to cast their ballots.

"And the BJP won Bengal by a margin of 30 lakh votes. Now you tell me, is that entirely fair and democratic? This is the question that I ask. Honestly, I have no problem with deleting spurious, deleted, absent, migrated voters," Tharoor said.

Further, Tharoor suspected that the removal of duplicate or multiple voter registrations in Kerala, where he claimed instances of double, triple, and even quadruple enrolments had existed in the past, may have worked in favour of the Congress party by cleaning up inflated voter lists historically associated with rival political practices.
"And particularly in Kerala, I suspect the Congress benefited from the deletions because the CPM was long a past master of double enrollment, triple enrollment, quadruple enrollment--the same people in four different booths and so on. That used to happen. And so they were eliminated by the SIR, and as you said, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, there were very few appeals. But in Bengal, there is no doubt that there were 34 lakh appeals. And that's 34 lakh forms filled by 34 lakh individuals. And of that, only a few hundred have been heard," he said.

In Tamil Nadu politics, swearing-in is rarely a mere formality. Every element carries a message. CM C Joseph Vijay’s swearing-in on Sunday was no different, reports Ram Sundaram.

The guest list reflected the unusual coalition behind Vijay’s rise. Retired IAS officer U Sagayam, known for his anticorruption image, attended the event. So did lottery baron Santiago Martin, who faces money laundering charges, as his sonin-law Aadhav Arjuna took oath as a minister. Martin’s wife, Leema Rose, elected on an AIADMK ticket, was also present, though other AIADMK functionaries stayed away.

In another surprise, M K Alagiri’s daughter Kayalvizhi attended despite the DMK brass skipping the ceremony. BJP state chief Nainar Nagendran and ex-governor Tamilisai Soundararajan were also present despite TVK’s alliance with Congress.

The front row carried a personal touch. Vijay’s parents, filmmaker S A Chandrasekar and Shoba, were emotional, while actor Trisha Krishnan made her first public appearance since the controversy over her appearance with Vijay at a wedding in April.

Vijay’s trademark opening, “En nenjil kudiyirukkum…” (who lives in my heart) and his appearance in a suit signalled a break from traditional Dravidian political imagery of veshtis, starched shirts, and colour-coded cadres.

The loudest moment came when Vijay delivered the oath from memory in a performance-style cadence.

Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya on Sunday appointed Himanta Biswa Sarma as the chief minister of the state, clearing the way for the NDA’s third straight term in power. The decision came after Sarma was unanimously chosen as the leader of the BJP-led NDA legislature party. He later met the governor at Lok Bhavan along with alliance leaders and formally staked claim to form the government.

According to an official notification issued by chief secretary Ravi Kota, Sarma will take oath at 11.40 am on May 12 at Veterinary College Field in Khanapara. The governor will also administer the oath of office and secrecy to the new council of ministers.

The NDA — comprising the BJP, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), registered a landslide victory in the 126-member Assam assembly, winning a record 102 seats. The BJP secured 82 seats, while AGP and BPF won 10 seats each.

Sarma, who first became chief minister in 2021, will now become the first non-Congress leader in Assam to serve two consecutive terms as CM. The upcoming government will also mark the BJP-led alliance’s third straight term in the state since it first came to power in 2016 under former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and senior BJP leaders are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.