UPDATE: 15:21 p.m. IST — Just hours after being sworn in as the Tamil Nadu chief minister, J Jayalalithaa signed a document closing at least 500 Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) shops and reducing the business time of liquor shops in the state, fulfilling the promises made in AIADMK's election manifesto, the Hindu reported.
The liquor shops will from now on open at 12 p.m. instead of 10 a.m. and close at the usual timing, 10 p.m.
Jayalalithaa signed a total of five files on Monday, including one according to which all households would get 100 units of free electricity. "This would annually cost the exchequer Rs. 1,607 crore," an official release said.
UPDATE: 12:33 p.m. IST — The swearing in ceremony ended in Tamil Nadu on Monday. Governor K Rosaiah administered the oath-taking ceremony of J Jayalalithaa and 28 cabinet ministers.
UPDATE: 12:14 p.m. IST — J Jayalalithaa on Monday took oath as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for a fourth term.
Original Story —
AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa and the 28 members of her cabinet will take oath at 12 p.m. on Monday at Centenary Auditorium of Madras University. This will be the first time Jayalalithaa would be sworn in as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for a second consecutive term.
The swearing in ceremony will be administered by Governor K Rosaiah. Main opposition DMK's MK Stalin and Union Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu will attend the ceremony, Asian News International reported.
The cabinet of the AIADMK or All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government will have 13 new faces, while O Panneerselvam, who is reported to be close to Jayalalithaa, will continue to hold the finance portfolio, the Hindu reported.
AIADMK MLA and former MP Semmalai is among the new faces in the Assembly and will be sworn in as the pro-term speaker. Some other new cabinet members include Udumalai Radhakrishnan (Housing and Urban Development), P Benjamin (School Education), VM Rajalakshmi (Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare), S Valarmathi (Backward Classes and Minority Welfare), KC Karupannan (Environment).
R Kamaraj (Food), C Vijaya Baskar (Health), RB Udhaya Kumar (Revenue), P Thangamani (Electricity and Prohibition), SP Velumani (Municipal Administration and Rural Development), D Jayakumar (Fisheries), SP Shanmuganathan (Milk and Dairy Development), MC Sampath (Industries), C Ve Shanmugam ( Law, Courts and Prisons) and KP Anbazhagan (Higher Education) are the cabinet members who will be retaining their fortfolios for a second term.
The Assembly election in Tamil Nadu was held on May 16 and the result was announced on May 19. The exit polls had predicted AIADMK would lose the elections to its main opposition DMK.
However, AIADMK won the elections with 134 of the 232 Assembly seats and broke the 32-year-long pattern where the two parties won alternate elections. It was under chief minister MG Ramachandra Menon's rule that AIADMK won two consecutive terms that lasted until his death in 1987.
