Guv’s order triggers drama before oath-taking by TMC’s bypoll winners; CM steps in

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee called state Governor Jagdeep Dhankar on Monday to convince him to allow assembly speaker Biman Banerjee to administer the oath of office to four Trinamool Congress legislators, elected on October 30 by-poll, after the governor wrote to assembly secretariat authorizing the deputy speaker to administer the oath, officials familiar with the development said. After Banerjee’s call, the Governor reportedly changed his decision and allowed Biman Banerjee to administer the oath.

In September, Dhankhar took away the power of the speaker to administer oath and vested it with himself. On Monday, he wrote to the assembly secretariat saying deputy speaker Asish Banerjee can administer the oath on his behalf as he would not be able to attend the oath-taking ceremony at the assembly house on Tuesday.

As this caused an embarrassment for the speaker and the ruling party, chief minister Mamata Banerjee stepped in on Monday evening, top TMC leaders said.

According to the convention, it is the speaker who administers the oath to legislators while the Governor administers the oath of office to ministers.

“The Governor first said he was delegating the power to the deputy speaker as he would not be able to attend the ceremony. When Mamata Banerjee personally called him up, Dhankhar agreed to empower the speaker to administer the oath of office to Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Udayan Guha, Brajakishore Goswami and Subrata Mondal. Another unnecessary crisis was averted,” a senior TMC leader, who is known to be close to the Bengal CM, told HT.

The TMC won Khardah, Dinhata, Santipur and Gosaba, securing 75% of the overall votes polled in these polls. Partha Chatterjee, cabinet minister and leader of the TMC’s legislative party, wrote to Dhankhar, requesting him to administer the oath of office to the winners.

“The Governor informed us that he cannot come. We will make some arrangement,” Chatterjee said at the assembly house on Monday afternoon when the drama unfolded. Mamata Banerjee stepped in hours after Chatterjee wrote to the governor again, requesting him to empower the speaker.

Raj Bhawan officials did not comment on the incident.

“I will not make any comment. Wait till tomorrow and see what happens,” the speaker told HT on Monday evening.

Assembly officials said on condition of anonymity that a note from Raj Bhawan reached the office of the speaker a few days before the September 30 assembly by-poll at Kolkata’s Bhabanipur and polls at two seats in Murshidabad district. The letter cited Section 188 of the Constitution which empowers the Governor to administer the oath.

Article 188 deals with the oath or affirmation of lawmakers. “Every member of the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council of a State shall, before taking his seat, make and subscribe before the Governor, or some person appointed in that behalf by him, an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule,” it says.

Mamata Banerjee, who was defeated at Nandigram six months ago, contested and won her old Bhawanipore seat. The Governor came to the assembly and read out the oath on October 7.

To continue as the chief minister, the TMC president needed to be sworn in as a member of the assembly by November 4. Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who won the Bhawanipore seat in the March-April polls, stepped down for her. He successfully contested the Khardah seat which fell vacant after TMC’s Kajal Sinha died after winning it.

The Governor’s decision forced the TMC to reschedule Mamata Banerjee’s oath-taking, which was initially planned for October 4.

On October 1, the government had written to the Governor, asking him to authorize the speaker to conduct the programme but Dhankhar sought a gazette notification on the Bhawanipore bypoll results. Partha Chatterjee and Tapas Roy, the assembly’s deputy chief whip, met the speaker on October 4 and sent a formal request to the Governor to come to the assembly on October 7. A gazette notification on the Bhawanipore results was also issued. The Governor subsequently agreed to attend the ceremony.

Biman Banerjee and Dhankar had earlier clashed over the latter’s request for a live telecast of his speech at the assembly. The speaker did not allow this. The speaker has also complained that Dhankhar was interfering in his work.

In a strongly worded letter sent to the speaker on September 15, the Governor said, “Under Article 176 of the Constitution, I addressed the assembly on February 7, 2020, and July 2, 2021. On both occasions, in an ‘emergency’ kind of a situation, the address was blacked out.”

“I would urge you to engage in soul-searching, believe in constitutional essence and spirit, and dictate the actions and conduct duly mindful of constitutional prescriptions and propriety demanded by the office you hold,” Dhankhar added.

Former principal of Presidency College and constitutional expert Amal Mukhopadhyay said, “Since 1952, the standing convention is that governors authorize assembly speakers to administer the oath of office to legislators. The speaker is the master of the House. The Constitution says that any member of the assembly can be appointed by the governor for the job. But ignoring the speaker in this case, and appointing the deputy speaker as his representative to administer the oath, was a wrong move on the part of the governor.”