Bengal Governor authorises Assembly deputy speaker to supervise swearing in of 2 TMC MLAs on July 5

Kolkata: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose has authorised Deputy Speaker to oversee the swearing in of the two newly elected TMC MLAs in the Assembly on Friday, a senior Raj Bhavan official said.

"The Governor has authorised the Deputy Speaker Ashish Banerjee to conduct the swearing in ceremony at the Assembly tomorrow," the official told PTI on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Speaker Biman Banerjee summoned a special session of the Assembly starting from 2 pm on Friday, emphasising that the functioning of the House does not solely depend on the Governor.

Previously, the Speaker had sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu to resolve the oath-taking issue and accused the Governor of turning it into an ego battle.

The two MLAs — Rayat Hossain Sarkar and Sayantika Banerjee — were elected in the bypolls held concurrently with the Lok Sabha elections but declined to take oath at the Raj Bhavan.

They argued that convention dictates the Governor should assign either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly to administer the oath in case of bypoll winners.

Last Wednesday, the Governor had invited them to take the oath at Raj Bhavan, which they declined citing procedural norms.