Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 5 : Newly elected Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Hossain Sarkar took oath in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in the presence of Speaker Biman Banerjee and other MLAs on Friday, after a week of deadlock.
Both the MLAs took oath under Article 188 of the Constitution in a special session of the Assembly.
Sayantika and Reyat won the assembly bye-elections from the Baranagar and Bhagwangola constituencies, respectively, the results of which were declared on June 5. TMC MLA Reyat Hossain Sarkar won from Bhagwangola in the recently concluded bye-election with 107,096 votes, while TMC MLA Sayantika Banerjee won from Baranagar with 69,251 votes.
The opposition was not present in the special session. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said that he was not informed about the special session called on Friday.
"...I have no information about this. I did not get any notice...In every state, a courtesy call is given to the LoP...But here, there was no interaction with me...," Adhikari said on Thursday speaking to reporters about the special session called on Friday.
Earlier last week, Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Hossain Sarkar launched a sit-in protest in front of the BR Ambedkar statue at the premises of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Thursday after Governor CV Anand Bose declined to administer the oath or delegate the responsibility to the Speaker.
The standoff between the Governor and the state's ruling party, TMC, was triggered by a Raj Bhavan communication inviting the two newly elected MLAs of Bhagwangola and Baranagar, Reyat Hossain Sarkar and Banerjee, respectively, to take oath at the Governor's House.
While the Speaker asserted that the Governor should have come to the state assembly as the newly elected MLAs are not becoming members of Raj Bhavan but of the State Assembly.
TMC MLA Sayantika Banerjee said that Governor CV Ananda Bose should come to the Assembly and conduct the two newly elected TMC MLAs' oath-taking ceremony or give authority to the speaker to conduct the ceremony.
"We respect him (the Governor), his chair, and the Constitution, but he is not giving us respect or customising the Constitution. He should come to the Assembly and conduct our oath-taking ceremony or give this authority to the speaker. We are sitting here with the Constitution... We are elected, unlike a nominated position like you (Governor)," Banerjee told ANI.
TMC MLA Reyat Hossain Sarkar told ANI that they demand that their oath-taking ceremony be held in the Assembly.
"The Governor is in his ego; we don't have any issue with that. We are newly elected MLAs; people have elected us, and we are not selected. We appeal to the entire nation that whatever tradition is there in other states, the speaker, deputy speaker, or governor conducts the oath of MLAs in the Assembly... I don't know why the Governor is in ego and doing injustice to West Bengal; our demand is that our oath be conducted in the Assembly," Sarkar said.