Badal sworn in as Punjab CM

Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal was on Friday sworn in as Punjab Chief Minister for a record fourth time.

Punjab Governor S F Rodrigues administered the oath of office and secrecy to Badal at a ceremony held at PCA stadium in Mohali.

He will head the SAD-BJP alliance government, thus ending the five-year rule of Amarinder Singh-led Congress government.

Badal earlier shared the record of becoming the chief minister three times with Gopi Chand Bhargava, who incidentally was the first chief minister of the state after the country's partition in 1947. Badal was the chief minister earlier in 1970-71 for 15 months, in 1977-1980 for 32 months and in 1997-2002 for five years.

SAD-BJP alliance was voted back to power with 67 seats routing the Congress, which bagged 44 seats in the 117-member state assembly. The remaining five seats went to the Independents. Polling for the Beas assembly constituency has been deferred to March 11 following violence there.