Arjun Meghwal, Gangwar first two MPs to register for 17th Lok Sabha

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service 
New Delhi, May 25

Famous for biking to Parliament, Arjun Ram Meghwal, the Minister of State for Finance in the outgoing BJP-led NDA government became the first MP of the 17th Lok Sabha to formally register on Friday.

Meghwal is known for making cycling fashionable and even campaigned on his bike in Bikaner which he won for the third time in a row. Meghwal has been winning the constituency since 2009 taking over from actor Dharmendra who represented it from 2004 to 2009.

The outgoing MoS turned up to register at the Lok Sabha Secretariat on his bike on Friday and completed all the formalities, including signing a form on the Anti-Defection Law.

Only eight newly elected MPs turned up on Friday to register at the LS office which will continue the registration facility until May 28.

“Since the results were announced on Thursday night the MP registration started only on Friday, and we had only eight MPs registering. More are expected now,” a Parliament source told The Tribune.

The second MP to register on Friday was Santosh Gangwar of the BJP who has won from UP’s Bareilly for the eighth time.

Other early birds of the 17th LS who finished their registrations were Meenakshi Lekhi of the BJP (New Delhi segment), Manoj Tiwari of the BJP who defeated former Delhi CM and Congress veteran Sheila Dikshit in Northeast Delhi and BJP Uttarakhand chief Ajay Bhat who won from Nainital, defeating former state CM and Congress’ Harish Rawat.

BJP’s newly elected MPs from Haryana—Ratan Lal Kataria who defeated former union minister Kumari Selja in Ambala and Krishan Pal who won over Congress’ Avtar Bhadana in Faridabad--also turned up on Friday to register.

Sources said the rush of registration is expected to swell from Saturday.

Congress’ Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari would register on Monday, he said.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet of the outgoing government met on Friday for the last time and recommended the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha.

The 17th Lok Sabha will commence soon as the Election Commission issues a gazette notification of the elected MPs, which is likely on Saturday.

Technically a new LS gets constituted soon as the EC notification comes which, sources say, is expected on Sunday.

However, the date of the first sitting of the 17th Lok Sabha will be decided by the new government after Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes oath of office.

The term of the fresh LS begins from the date of its first sitting.