WB Governor says will wait for gazette notification on bypoll results before announcing oath-ceremony date

New Delhi [India], October 5 : West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar on Monday said that the date of the oath-taking ceremony of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as an MLA, and that of other MLAs will only be decided after a gazette notification is issued on the bypoll results.
Notably, after a resounding victory in the Bhabhanipur bypolls, Mamata Banerjee yesterday announced her oath-taking ceremony would be conducted on October 7, and had invited the governor for the same.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will take oath as an MLA on October 7 and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has written to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar inviting him to administer the oath of office to the party supremo at the State Assembly instead, informed Partha Chatterjee, General Secretary of Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday.
Speaking to ANI, Chatterjee said, "We suggested and requested the Governor to come down to Assembly and administer the oath of office on October 7."
In a response to the letter/invitation, the Governor said that "once the result of the by-elections is Gazetted and is brought to his notice", he would take a call "as deemed appropriate under Article 188 of the Constitution".
Further, the Governor noted that, on October 4, a request has been made by the West Bengal Speaker Biman Banerjee to appoint him to administer the oath to the newly-elected MLAs.
"The practice and the proceedings at the level of the Assembly and the Government have apparently emanated under misconception of law," Dhankar said in response to the request.
Taking to Twitter, Dhankar shared his official response and said, "Raj Bhawan response on the administration of Oath/Affirmation to the Members elected to the WBLA in bye-election from 159-Bhabanipur A/C, and the adjourned poll in 56-Samserganj and 58-Jangipur A/Cs held on 30 September 2021. Once Gazetted Governor would take the call."
Banerjee won the Bhabhanipur Assembly by-poll by a record margin of over 58,000 votes against her nearest rival Priyanka Tibrewal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), making her a member of the state Legislative Assembly and thus allowing her to continue as the Chief Minister of West Bengal.
According to the Election Commission of India, Mamata Banerjee secured 85,263 votes which are around 71.90 per cent of the total votes connected in the bye-elections, while Tibrewal got 26,428 votes and CPI (M) candidate Srijib Biswas secured 4,226 votes.
The win was crucial for Banerjee, as she has to secure a legislative assembly seat by the first week of November and continue as the Chief Minister of West Bengal.
Notably, Mamata Banerjee was defeated by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in the Nandigram constituency in the Assembly elections held earlier this year.
Following this, the Bhabanipur Assembly seat was vacated by the West Bengal Agriculture Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay in May, making way for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to contest from Bhabanipur seat as a move to continue to hold her post.