Uma Thomas of the Congress, newly elected from the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency, was sworn in as MLA on Wednesday.
The brief oath-taking ceremony was held in the chamber of Speaker M.B. Rajesh at the Kerala Legislative Assembly in the morning.
Ms. Thomas, who is the wife of the late P.T. Thomas, MLA, had emerged victorious in the May 31 byelection held to the Thrikkakara seat in Ernakulam district. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of her husband, who had represented the constituency, in December last year.
Ms. Thomas had secured 72,770 votes and defeated Left Democratic Front candidate Jo Joseph by a margin of over 25,000 votes.
She is the lone woman MLA of the Congress in the Assembly.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan; senior Congress leaders Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala, M.M. Hassan and K.C. Joseph; and Ms. Thomas's sons Vishnu and Vivek and daughter-in-law Bindu were present at Wednesday's ceremony.
After the oath taking, the Speaker presented her with a bouquet.
Thankful
Later, talking to reporters, Ms. Thomas said she would continue the development initiatives left unfinished by her husband in Thrikkakara. “I’m glad and grateful that the people of Thrikkakara who loved PT have blessed me with this victory,” she said, adding that she would strive to live up to “the high standards set by her husband as a lawmaker.”
"First, I want to meet the people in my constituency in person and understand their problems. PT was always concerned about the problems faced by the public," she said.
On Wednesday, Ms. Thomas had brought with her a shawl sporting Congress party colours which was the last one used by Mr. Thomas before he passed away. She also started her journey to the Assembly from Room no. 403 at the Chandragiri block of the nearby MLA Hostel which was once occupied by Mr. Thomas.
