The first session of the 16th Kerala Assembly concluded on Thursday afternoon with Pro tem Speaker G Sudhakaran administering the oath of office to the newly elected MLAs at 9.00 am. Sudhakaran's oath was administered by the Governor on Wednesday.

Congress had earlier announced Sudhakaran, a former CPM leader who contested the Kerala Assembly Elections as a Congress-backed independent, as its choice for the role. He was sworn in as the Pro tem Speaker of the Kerala Assembly during a brief ceremony held at Kerala Lok Bhavan on Wednesday.

The house will reconvene on Friday to elect the speaker and deputy speaker at 9.00 am. The Congress has selected senior leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan as the speaker and Shanimol Osman as the deputy speaker. This would make her the second Congress woman MLA to hold the post, after Nafeesath Beevi in 1960.

The Governor's policy address is expected to follow on May 29, with the discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address scheduled for June 3.

The 16th Kerala Assembly comprises 102 UDF MLAs, 35 LDF MLAs, and 3 NDA MLAs, compared with 41 UDF MLAs and 99 LDF MLAs in the previous assembly. The BJP, which drew a blank in the 2021 assembly elections, has made a comeback, winning three seats, a historic high for the party in the state.

The representation of women in the assembly, however, has declined from 12 women MLAs in the 15th assembly to 11. This represents less than 10 per cent of the 140-member assembly.

On Monday, the Chief Minister and the 20 ministers in the UDF cabinet were sworn in by the Governor, and the ministerial portfolios were handed over on Wednesday morning, after a tight round of discussions within the front.