Speaker writes to Governor, urges him to administer oath to newly-elected candidates

Kolkata: The West Bengal Legislative Assembly has started making arrangements for the oath-taking of the six candidates who recently won the by-elections in six Assembly constituencies in Bengal, the results of which were declared on November 23.

In this regard, Speaker Biman Banerjee, on Monday, sent a letter to the Governor requesting him to come to the Assembly to preside over the oath-taking ceremony of the six newly elected candidates.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) retained all five seats namely Haroa, Naihati, Taldangra, Midnapore and Sitai and wrested the Madarihat seat from the BJP.

According to sources in the state Assembly, preparations are underway in full swing so that the candidates can be sworn in this week. It is learnt that with the Governor refusing to come to the Assembly on more than one occasion earlier to preside over oath-taking, the Assembly has an alternative plan to avoid delay in the swearing-in.

If the Governor turns down the request, then the Speaker may administer the oath to the newly elected candidates similar to earlier occasions. In July, four TMC candidates – Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj, Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat South, Madhuparna Thakur from Bagda and Supti Pande from Maniktala were sworn in by the Speaker as per convention, under Article 188 of the Constitution. Trinamool had hit out at the Governor accusing him of “creating unnecessary hurdles in the oath-taking process of newly elected candidates.

Interestingly, on the occasion of the two-year celebration as the Governor of Bengal recently, CV Ananda Bose had said that he wants to maintain a cordial relationship with the state government in the days to come.

TMC candidates Joy Prakash Toppo won from Madarihat, Sangita Roy from Sitai, Sanat Dey from Naihati, Rabiul Islam from Haroa, Falguni Singhaabu from Taldangra and Sujoy Hazra from Midnapore in the recently held bypolls.