Two Trinamool Congress MLAs, who won in by-elections held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls and the results were announced on June 4, have become the victims of the latest stand-off between their party and the Governor of West Bengal, C.V. Ananda Bose. While the Trinamool Congress wants the MLAs to be sworn in at the Assembly by the Speaker, the Governor is insisting that the duo be sworn in by him at Raj Bhavan.
Today, more than 21 days after the poll win, the two elected MLAs – Sayantika Banerjee (Baranagar MLA) and Rayat Hossain Sarkar (Bhagabangola MLA), began a four-hour wait – till 4 pm – in the State Assembly compound for Governor C.V. Ananda Bose to come and swear them in. They held placards saying “waiting for the Governor to come and swear them in”.
Bose too was waiting at the Raj Bhavan, having told the two MLAs to come there at 12 pm Wednesday for the swearing-in, which both ignored keeping in mind their party diktat.
In the evening, the Governor left for Delhi for pre-scheduled meetings, while the two MLAs said they would sit in dharna before B.R. Ambedkar’s statue on Thursday to press for their demand.
Constitutionally, the Governor administers the oath to an MLA. But by convention, in case of a bypoll, the Governor assigns the job to the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.
In this case, Bose has refused to give the go-ahead for the same, and has instead demanded that Banerjee and Sarkar, both first-time MLAs, come to the Raj Bhavan to be sworn in by him.
Banerjee and Sarkar had won in by-polls held on June 1, comfortably defeating a BJP and Congress candidate, respectively.
With the Trinamool Congress constantly engaged in a tense and strained relationship with Bose on various issues, including security at the Raj Bhavan, the two MLAs said that the Governor should either authorise the Speaker or Deputy Speaker to swear them in, or come to the Assembly if he wants to administer the oath himself.
On Monday, Sayantika Banerjee wrote to Governor Bose, asking him to let Speaker Biman Banerjee administer her the oath as MLA.
She told reporters: “I am a Member of the Legislative Assembly, and I need to work from here. The general practice is that in the case of a by-election, the Governor writes to the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker to administer the oath. That is why I wrote to the Governor… and said I would like to take the oath in the Assembly… Already three weeks have passed since my victory but I am yet to start working for the people of my constituency.”
Sarkar said: “I also want to take the oath in the Assembly. We are waiting for the Governor to come here for the same.”
The Raj Bhavan cited Clause 188 of the Constitution to underline that the Governor has the final say
on the swearing-in of MLAs.
As per the Clause, every member of the Assembly, before taking their seat, must take an oath before the Governor or some person assigned to do so by the Governor.
In a post on its official X handle, the Raj Bhavan cited instances from the past of newly elected members, such as Mamata Banerjee, Jakir Hossain and Amirul Islam – all of the Trinamool Congress – taking their oath or affirmation before the then Governor in 2021.
In a similar situation two years ago, Trinamool Congress Ballygunge MLA Babul Supriyo could not take oath as a legislator even two weeks after his election due to a conflict between the Speaker and then Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar – who also had a contentious relationship with the Trinamool Congress Government – over who would preside over the swearing-in ceremony.
Sources in the ruling party said their reluctance stems from the episode when Governor Bose barred Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya from visiting the Raj Bhavan over remarks made by her on the molestation charge against the Governor by a woman staffer.
