Bengal: Protesting MLAs take oath from speaker; governor writes to President in protest
After a month-long stand-off, on Friday, Sayantika Banerjee from Baranagar and Rayat Hossain Sarkar from Bhagwangola in Murshidabad district took oath as Trinamool Congress MLAs in a special session of the Bengal Assembly.
Speaker Biman Banerjee administered the oath rather than the deputy speaker, who had been authorised by Governor CV Ananda Bose for the task.
While Governor Bose on Thursday had authorised Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee to administer the oath in the assembly, departing from his previous position that the MLAs must be sworn in at Raj Bhavan, today, during the special assembly session, the deputy speaker recused himself from the ceremony, stating that “it is against the norms for the deputy speaker to administer the oath when the speaker is present on the chair”.
The governor has decided to send a report to President Droupadi Murmu in protest against the “Constitutional impropriety” committed by the speaker since, as per Article 188 of the Constitution, the oath of affirmation to legislators must be conducted by the governor or by any person appointed by him.
Governor Bose has tweeted out this decision:
The stand-off happened as the two MLAs, elected in by-elections held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections, refused to take their oaths in the Raj Bhavan in protest against the governor’s alleged sexual harassment of a female employee in the building.
Both the legislators had been staging a sit-in on the assembly premises, insisting that the speaker administer their oaths in accordance with the House convention.
The employee has appealed to the Supreme Court to let investigation be allowed against the governor despite the constitutional immunity he enjoys as it might get too late to wait for the governor to demit office for proceedings to begin.
