Dhankhar has his way, Dy Speaker to administer Babul Supriyo’s oath on Wed

Kolkata, May 10 (2022) The confusion over singer-turned-politician Babul Supriyo's swearing-in as the newly-elected Trinamool MLA from Ballygunge seems to be finally over as the state government has accepted the condition set by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar that the oath will be administered by the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Asish Banerjee.

Although Supriyo was elected as the new MLA from Ballygunge on April 16, confusion was prevailing over his oath taking ceremony after the the Governor cleared the file pertaining to his oath on April 30 on condition that the oath be administered by the Deputy Speaker, instead of the Speaker, Biman Banerjee.

However, Asish Banerjee had refused to administer the oath claiming that with the Speaker being present, it will be an insult to Biman Banerjee if he as the Deputy Speaker administers the oath.

On May 1, Supriyo through a Twitter message had appealed to the Governor for allowing the Speaker to administer his oath. But Dhankhar had tweeted back claiming that a public domain was not the place for placing such a request.

Since then, confusion was prevailing over Supriyo's oath ceremony.

However, on Tuesday evening, state minister Partha Chatterjee informed mediapersons that the oath ceremony of Supriyo would be held on Wednesday, and it will be administered by the Deputy Speaker as mandated by the Governor.

Chatterjee explained that under constitutional provisions, the oath can be administered either by the Governor or anyone designated by the Governor. So, the Deputy Speaker of West Bengal Assembly will administer the oath as designated by the Governor, Chatterjee said.

Source: IANS