BENGAL: SPEAKER ADMINISTERS OATH TO 2 NEW TMC MLAs, GOVERNOR CRIES FOUL

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Friday cried foul even as the Speaker administered the oath to two newly elected Trinamool Congress legislators, instead of the Deputy Speaker who had been authorised by Bose for the job.

Bose on Friday wrote to President Droupadi Murmu, stating that the Assembly Speaker, Biman Banerjee, administering oath to two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs was a “violation of the Constitution”, a Raj Bhavan official said. Their oath taking, though, had been pending since June and had become the focus of a bitter and prolonged standoff between the Trinamool Congress and the Governor.

Late yesterday night – when it became obvious that the Speaker would be convening a special session on Friday to end the monthlong impasse over swearing in of Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Hussien Sarkar who had won by-elections from Baranagar and Bhagawangola respectively – the Raj Bhavan put out an order empowering Deputy Speaker Ashish Banerjee to administer the oath.

The BJP MLAs abstained from participating in both the special session and the oath-taking ceremony. Their absence was a notable aspect of the day’s proceedings, underscoring ongoing political tensions in the State Assembly.