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Two newly elected Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs, Reyat Hossain Sarkar and Sayantika Banerjee, launched a sit-in protest in front of the BR Ambedkar statue at the premises of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Thursday after Governor CV Anand Bose declined to administer the oath or delegate the responsibility to the Speaker.
Sayantika and Reyat won the assembly bye-elections from the Baranagar and Bhagwangola constituencies, respectively, the results of which were declared on June 5. TMC MLA Reyat Hossain Sarkar won from Bhagwangola in the recently concluded bye-election with 107,096 votes, while TMC MLA Sayantika Banerjee won from Baranagar with 69,251 votes. Both the TMC MLAs failed to take oath following a dispute over the venue of the swearing-in ceremony. The standoff between the Governor and the state's ruling party, TMC, was triggered by a Raj Bhavan communication inviting the two newly elected MLAs of Bhagwangola and Baranagar, Reyat Hossain Sarkar and Banerjee, respectively, to take oath at the Governor's House on Wednesday. While the Speaker asserted that the Governor should have come to the state assembly as the newly elected MLAs are not becoming members of Raj Bhavan but of the State Assembly. TMC MLA Sayantika Banerjee said that Governor CV Ananda Bose should come to the Assembly and conduct the two newly elected TMC MLAs' oath-taking ceremony or give authority to the speaker to conduct the ceremony. "We respect him (the Governor), his chair, and the Constitution, but he is not giving us respect or customising the Constitution. He should come to the Assembly and conduct our oath-taking ceremony or give this authority to the speaker. We are sitting here with the Constitution... We are elected, unlike a nominated position like you (Governor)," Banerjee told ANI. TMC MLA Reyat Hossain Sarkar told ANI that they demand that their oath-taking ceremony be held in the Assembly. "The Governor is in his ego; we don't have any issue with that. We are newly elected MLAs; people have elected us, and we are not selected. We appeal to the entire nation that whatever tradition is there in other states, the speaker, deputy speaker, or governor conducts the oath of MLAs in the Assembly... I don't know why the Governor is in ego and doing injustice to West Bengal; our demand is that our oath be conducted in the Assembly," Sarkar said. (ANI)
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