TMC's Dhupguri MLA takes oath after 21 days, Governor administers

Newly elected MLA Nirmal Chandra Roy of Trinamool Congress, who won the by-election from Dhupguri in North Bengal, has taken oath today, after 21 days. The results of the by-election were declared on September 8 in which he defeated the BJP candidate. Since then, the complications regarding his swearing-in were not ending.

On Saturday he finally took oath at Raj Bhawan. Governor Dr. C.V. Anand Bose himself has administered him the oath of office and secrecy. After taking oath, Nirmal Chandra made the Governor wear Uttariya while the Governor also made him wear Uttariya as a mark of respect. Assembly Chief Whip Tapas Roy was present on behalf of Trinamool Congress in the programme.

It is noteworthy that the results of Dhupguri by-election were declared on September 8. Since then, there was a continuous tussle between the government and Raj Bhavan regarding the swearing-in of the newly elected MLA. Last week on Saturday, Raj Bhavan had called Nirmal Chandra Rai and asked him to come to Raj Bhavan to take oath. He was also ready but the state government objected to this and recommended the MLA to take oath in the Assembly as per the tradition of the Assembly.

A letter was sent by the Assembly Secretariat requesting to follow this process soon. After this, the Governor authorized Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Ashish Banerjee to administer the oath. Controversy arose over this too and Ashish Banerjee said that this is an insult to Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee. He cannot administer oath in the absence of the Speaker. After this, the Governor directly administered the oath to the newly elected MLA at Raj Bhavan.