Haryana: 10 ministers likely to take oath with Saini

The BJP is likely to keep at least three slots vacant while announcing member of the new Council of Ministers in Haryana. Saini was earlier on Wednesday elected as the leader of the BJP legislature group in the assembly and would be sworn in as chief minister on Thursday.
While Union Home minister Amit Shah, who is flying back to Chandigarh again late Wednesday night, and party functionaries are likely to finalise the names of the MLAs to be inducted into the Council of Ministers later tonight, party functionaries said that it is expected that 10 MLAs besides, Nayab Saini will be inducted in the Council of Ministers. Saini was earlier on Wednesday elected as the leader of the BJP legislature group in the assembly and would be sworn in as chief minister on Thursday.
BJP sources said that Krishan Lal Panwar, a Scheduled Caste MLA from Israna in Panipat district, Ranbir Gangwa, a backward class (A category) MLA from Barwala in Hisar district, Rao Narbir Singh, an Ahir and backward class (B category) MLA from Badshahpur in Gurugram district and Mahipal Dhanda, a Jat MLA from Panipat (rural) are sure to make the cut.
Those in contention included Krishan Bedi, a scheduled caste (Balmiki) MLA from Narwana in Jind, Krishan Lal Midha, a Punjabi-Khatri MLA from Jind, Anil Vij, another Punjabi-Khatri MLA from Ambala Cantt, Arvind Sharma, a Brahmin MLA from Gohana in Sonepat, Vipul Goel, a Vaish community MLA from Faridabad, Rajesh Nagar, a Gujjar and backward class (B category) MLA from Tigaon in Faridabad district, Arti Rao, a first-time Ahir and backward class (B category) MLA from Ateli in Mahendergarh district, Shruti Choudhry, a Jat MLA from Tosham in Bhiwani district, Shakti Rani Sharma, a Brahmin MLA from Kalka in Panchkula district.
As per Article 164 (1A) of the Constitution, there can be a maximum of 13 ministers, including the chief minister, in the Haryana Council of Ministers. The constitutional provision says that the total number of ministers, including the chief minister, in the Council of Ministers in a state shall not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the legislative assembly. This implied that Haryana, which has a 90-member assembly, cannot have more than 13 ministers including the chief minister. However, successive governments have been flouting the constitutional cap by rounding off the 13.5 figure and inducting 14 ministers, including the chief minister.