KOLKATA: In a break from tradition, governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will step into the Bengal assembly at 2pm on Thursday to administer the MLA oath to CM Mamata Banerjee, Jakir Hossain and Amirul Islam.
Usually, governors delegate the power to administer such oath to either the pro tem speaker or speaker. The Constitution mandates the governor, or any person he appoints, to administer oath to MLAs.
Raj Bhavan’s confirmation came after the state on Tuesday formally announced Banerjee and the two others as elected MLAs.
Earlier, Bengal parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee had written to the governor requesting him to administer the oath in the assembly at 11.45am on Thursday. Following a revised request, the governor rescheduled the oath-taking ceremony to 2pm. Dhankhar tweeted: “Now oath will be administered at 2pm at WBLA by the Governor.”
Speaker Biman Banerjee had said the state’s request was made since it was a long-standing convention that MLAs be administered oath in the assembly. Dhankhar said: “As the appropriate authority had issued the gazette notification, so in view of the powers vested under Article 188 the oath-taking ceremony will be held in the assembly.”
Earlier, on October 1, the state government had requested the governor to appoint the speaker, under Article 188, to administer the oath to newly-elected MLAs. But the governor did not agree and instead chose to administer the oath.
Political commentator Biswanath Chakraborty said the protocol so far was that the speaker would administer oath to newly-elected MLAs after a bypoll, but the governor himself would administer the oath in this instance, shifting from long-standing tradition.
