West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Friday administered the oath to two newly elected TMC MLAs, instead of the Deputy Speaker who was authorised by Governor C V Ananda Bose for the job.
The special one-day session of the assembly was adjourned sine die after the legislators were sworn in.
The swearing-in of the two TMC MLAs - Rayat Hossain Sarkar from Bhagwangola in Murshidabad district and Sayantika Banerjee from Baranagar on the northern outskirts of Calcutta – ended the month-long impasse between the Raj Bhavan and the assembly over the venue of the ceremony and who would administer the oaths to the MLAs.
In an abrupt development on Thursday evening, Governor Bose authorised Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee to administer the oath in the assembly on Friday, shifting from his previous stand that the MLAs would be sworn in at the Raj Bhavan.
However, during the one-day special session of the assembly, the Deputy Speaker recused himself from the programme and said, "It is against the norms for the Deputy Speaker to administer the oath when the Speaker is present on the Chair." Following the Deputy Speaker's appeal, Biman Banerjee called both the MLAs to the floor of the House and administered the oath.
TMC members of the assembly raised 'Jai Bangla' (Hail Bengal) slogans when the MLAs were taking oath.
Asish Banerjee claimed he followed the rules of the assembly.
"I did not go against the rules of the assembly. As per the rules, if the Speaker is present in the House, I cannot administer the oath," he told reporters later in the day.
State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said no rule of the House was violated.
Meanwhile, the BJP legislative party boycotted the session, stating that it had been convened without any prior notice.
Protesting the Governor's earlier stand, both legislators had been on a sit-in on the assembly premises for the past few days, demanding they be administered oath by the Speaker within the assembly premises as per the convention of the House.
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