Deadlock Persists: Guv’s absence stalls swearing-in of TMC MLAs

Kolkata: The deadlock over the swearing-in of two newly elected Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators continued on Wednesday as Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose refused to hold the programme in the Assembly and instead left for New Delhi.

Miffed by the development, the two MLAs, Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Rayat Hossain Sarkar, said they would again write to the Governor and would continue their sit-in protest on Thursday too inside the Assembly premises.

“We came to know that he had left for New Delhi. We are not nominated but elected representatives of the people. We are accountable to the masses. We are hopeful of taking the oath in the Assembly,” Bandyopadhyay said.

Speaker Biman Banerjee, who expressed his displeasure over the situation, accused Bose of turning the swearing-in ritual into an “ego battle” and intentionally complicating the issue. He claimed that an impasse was deliberately created for reasons best known to the Governor.

“We were waiting for the Governor to come to the Assembly, but he didn’t come. Such an impasse is not at all expected. The Governor has turned it into an ego battle. He is exercising his powers. I will also consult legal experts to understand my powers,” Banerjee said.

The Governor had invited both MLAs to attend the oath-taking ceremony at Raj Bhavan at around 12.30 pm but there was no clarity as to who would administer the oath, said the MLAs. Both MLAs were seen sitting on the stairs of the Assembly with placards on their hands that read ‘waiting for the arrival of the Governor to administer oath’.

Both the MLAs had earlier urged the Governor if their swearing-in ceremony could be done in the Assembly. Sayantika, elected from Baranagar on Monday wrote a letter to the Governor expressing her wish not to take oath as an MLA at Raj Bhavan.

Hossain Sarkar, elected from Bhagawangola seat said that they have requested the Governor to either come to the Assembly and administer the oath or allow the Speaker to do so on his behalf. However, both requests have been declined.

Conventionally, in the case of by-polls or in situations where newly elected MLAs need to take the oath, the Governor typically delegates the responsibility to administer the oath to either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.