West Bengal Governor C. V. Ananda Bose has authorized Deputy Speaker Ashish Banerjee to oversee the swearing-in ceremony of two newly elected Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs at the Assembly on Friday.
A Raj Bhavan official speaking to the media said, "The Governor has authorized the Deputy Speaker Ashish Banerjee to conduct the swearing-in ceremony at the Assembly tomorrow."
Significantly, it is pertinent to note that the swearing ceremonies of the TMC MLAs (won by-polls) on Friday include those of Rayat Hossain Sarkar and Sayantika Banerjee, who had declined to take the oath at Raj Bhavan as invited by the Governor. They argued that convention dictates that the Governor should assign either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly to administer the oath in the case of by-poll winners.
Previously, Speaker Banerjee had also sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu to resolve the oath-taking issue, accusing the Governor of turning it into an ego battle.
"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," he said.
(This is a developing story. More details will be added)
