Governor to administer MLA oath to Mamata Banerjee on Thursday

In the bypoll, the Trinamul supremo bagged 71.9 per cent of the votes polled

Mamata Banerjee: File picture

TT    |   Calcutta   |   07.10.21: Mamata Banerjee will take oath as MLA at the Assembly at 2pm on Thursday.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will administer the oath to Mamata and two other newly elected MLAs, Jakir Hossain and Amirul Islam.

Rules mandate that governors administer oath to MLAs, but the power is generally delegated to Speakers. This time, sources said, Dhankhar insisted on administering the oath to the chief minister and the other two MLAs.

Mamata became an MLA after winning the Bhowanipore bypoll. Hossain and Amirul were elected from Jangipur and Samserganj, respectively.

The chief minister had been defeated by Suvendu Adhikari — the one-time protege of Mamata who had defected to the BJP just before the Assembly elections — in Nandigram. However, the Trinamul Congress swept the Assembly polls and Mamata became the chief minister.

Mamata had till November 5 to be elected to the 294-seat House.

The Bhowanipore seat was vacated by agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who won with a margin of over 28,000 votes, on May 21 to enable Mamata to be elected to the Assembly.

In the bypoll, the Trinamul supremo bagged 85,263 votes or 71.9 per cent of the votes polled.