Jayalalithaa takes oath as Tamil Nadu legislator

Days after securing a thumping victory in the R K Nagar by-poll in Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa took oath on Saturday as member of the Legislative Assembly.

Jayalalithaa took oath as legislator in the presence of Speaker P Dhanapal in his chamber inside the Tamil Nadu assembly. Her cabinet colleagues were also present on the occasion.

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo returns as legislator after a gap of about 10 months, after she was disqualified as MLA and chief minister following her conviction in a wealth case by a Bengaluru trial court last September.

She was subsequently acquitted by the Karnataka high court in May following her appeal against the lower court verdict, allowing her to return as the chief minister. Her party member P Vetrivel had vacated the RK Nagar assembly seat in May, resulting in a by-poll which Jayalalithaa won by a huge margin of 1,50,722 votes against her nearest rival Communist Party of India's C Mahendran who forfeited his deposit.

The by-poll was held on June 27 and results were declared on June 30.

Image: Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa won the R K Nagar constituency by 1.5 lakh votes