The stalemate over the swearing-in of two newly elected Trinamul Congress MLAs — Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Hossain Sarkar — ended on Thursday with governor C.V. Ananda Bose assigning deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee to administer the oath to the two.

In an order issued on Thursday evening, Bose stated: "By virtue of the power vested in me by article 188 of the Constitution of India, I, Dr. C.V. Ananda Bose, Governor of West Bengal, hereby appoint Dr. Asish Banerjee, Deputy Speaker, West Bengal Legislative Assembly, as the person before whom Shri Reyat Hossain Sarkar, elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 62-Bhagawangola Assembly Constituency and and Smt. Sayantika Banerjee, elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 113-Baranagar Assembly make and subscribe, an oath or affirmation according to the form set for the purpose in the Third Schedule of the Constitution."

According to the rule, after the completion of the election process, the office of the Election Commission sends separate letters to the Assembly and the state government, detailing the winners. Then, the government's parliamentary affairs department requests Raj Bhavan to initiate the swearing-in of the winners.

The stand-off between Raj Bhavan and the Assembly cropped up when the parliamentary affairs department did not send any letter to the governor. Instead, the Speaker informed Raj Bhavan directly about the legislators' swearing-in ceremony and requested that he be designated to administer the oath.

The governor, in response, invited the two legislators to Raj Bhavan to take their oath on June 26. Sayantika and Sarkar wrote to Bose, suggesting that the governor could come to the Assembly to swear them in.

On Thursday also, the two legislators-elect continued their dharna in front of B.R. Ambedkar's statue on the Assembly premises, demanding that the governor come to the House to administer the oath.

Earlier in the day, Speaker Biman Banerjee had announced that a special Assembly session was convened at 2pm on Friday amid murmurs that the swearing-in of Sayantika and Sarkar might take place.

Although the Speaker did not confirm anything regarding the swearing-in, sources in the Assembly revealed that Biman had consulted legal experts who advised him that the legislators could take their oaths during the special session.

Asked whether the two legislators would be sworn in on Friday, Biman refused to divulge anything.

"The session is very, very special. Wait till Friday. You will get to know everything. If someone thinks that we are helpless, then he or she is wrong. The Assembly is not helpless, and everything is not in the hands of the governor. You can't just force everything down our throats; there are rules, regulations, and constitutional norms. All of us have to abide by them," the Speaker said.

Biman said the business advisory committee of the Assembly would meet on Friday to decide on the tenure of the session.

Constitutional experts, however, said the swearing-in of the legislators would not be possible without the governor's authorisation.

"The Speaker or the deputy Speaker can conduct the swearing-in only after they get the nod from the governor. The Speaker cannot do it unilaterally," former Supreme Court judge Asok Ganguly said.