Chattisgarh: Recently elected Congress member Yashoda Verma took oath as the 71st Congress MLA at the Chattisgarh Vidhan Sabha. Assembly speaker Chandrakant Mahant administered the oath in the presence of CM Bhupesh Baghel and State Health Minister TS Singh Deo.

The OBC leader arrived in a traditional attire donning the CG style saree and ethnic jewellery for her oath-taking ceremony.

On April 16, the Congress party won the Khairagarh Assembly bypoll on the back of its promise to create the new district. Since then, CM Baghel has fast-tracked work on it, appointing Officer on Special Duty (OSD) IAS and IPS for the district.

The Congress party had released a special manifesto for the Khairagarh bypoll and promised the creation of the district within 24 hours of winning the bypoll.

The recent announcements and work on the new district are being seen as part of the Congress party’s preparations for the Assembly polls, which are less than two years away. The Chief Minister has started daily departmental reviews and has planned a state-wide tour of all constituencies next month.

Congress’ Yashoda Verma won the election by a margin of 20,176 votes against her nearest rival Komal Janghel of the BJP, a poll official said. Verma got 87,879 votes while Janghel secured 67,703 votes, he said.

Narendra Soni, the nominee of the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), could get only 1,222 votes, less than the NOTA (none of the above) option which bagged 2,616.