Bengal govt avoiding 'tiff' with Raj Bhavan for oath of 4 newly elected MLAs

Kolkata: After the recent controversies over the oath ceremony of the two legislators elected from Baranagar and Bhagawangola, the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal is cautious this time to avoid any tiff with Raj Bhavan over the swearing-in ceremony of the four newly elected MLAs.

In a clean sweep, Trinamool won all four constituencies in the Assembly bypolls the results of which were declared on Saturday.

Insiders from the state cabinet said that the right protocol for approaching Governor V. Ananda Bose will be followed strictly to get the latter’s nod for the oath ceremony of the four newly elected MLAs namely Madhuparna Thakur from Bagda, Supti Pandey from Maniktala, Krishnas Kalyani from Raiganj and Dr Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat-Dakshin.

A communique from the state Parliamentary Affairs department will be sent to the office of the Governor this week only, where the latter will be requested to either administer the oath ceremony of the four newly elected MLAs or nominate anyone for the same, said a member of the state cabinet who refused to be named.

As per the protocol, such initial communique regarding the oath-ceremony of newly elected MLAs has to go to the office of the Governor from the office of the state Parliamentary affairs minister.

However, in the earlier case of Sayantika Banerjee from Baranagar and Reyat Houssen Sarkar from Bhagawangola, the initial communique was sent from the office of the assembly Speaker and the assembly secretary.

The state cabinet member further said that the reaction from the Governor will determine the next course of action and if the Governor adopts the same path of prolonging the process, the Speaker of the House using his own authority under Section 5 of Chapter 2 of the ‘Rules of Business’ of the state assembly, will himself administer the oath-ceremony of the four newly elected MLAs at any forthcoming session of the House.

In the cases of Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Houssen Sarkar, a special one-day session of the assembly had to be convened for the Speaker to administer their oath ceremony. However, in the case of the four newly elected MLAs that special session will not be necessary as the oath ceremony can be conducted in the forthcoming monsoon session of the assembly resuming this month -- probably from July 22.

However, in that case too uncertainties will prevail on how far the four elected MLAs will be able to participate in the proceedings of the House in the backdrop of Article 193 of the Indian Constitution which gives the power to the Governor to impose such a financial penalty on newly elected MLAs participating in the assembly proceedings or even occupying their allotted seats in the House without the ascent of the Governor.