NEW DELHI: Hemant Soren took oath as the 14th chief minister of Jharkhand on Thursday at a ceremony in Ranchi. This will be the fourth term as chief minister for the 49-year-old leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
The event was attended by several political leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The oath was administered by governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar.
Soren retained the Barhait seat in the recently held assembly elections, defeating BJP‘s Gamliyel Hembrom by 39,791 votes.
The JMM-led INDIA bloc won 56 of the 81 seats in the assembly, while the BJP-led NDA secured 24 seats.

Schools in the city remained closed on Thursday for the swearing-in ceremony.
Soren took the oath alone, with the cabinet expansion planned after the assembly vote of confidence.
Other political leaders to attend the oath ceremony included Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Raghav Chadha, Sanjay Singh, Bihar’s leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav, DMK’s Udhayanidhi Stalin and Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar.