West Bengal Governor and Babul Supriyo engage in war of words over MLA oath

Babul Supriyo and West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar engaged in a war of words over who would administer the oath to the TMC leader elected to the assembly from 161-Ballygunge constituency.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had appointed Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee as the person to administer the oath to Babul Supriyo, the newly elected member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from the 161-Ballygunge Assembly constituency.

"Appointment of the Hon'ble Deputy Speaker Dr. Asish Banerjee as the person to administer oath to Shri Babul Supriyo, elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 161-Ballygunge Assembly constituency is in conformity with article 188 of the Constitution", tweeted Dhankhar on Sunday.

However, Deputy Speaker refused to administer the oath, saying it would be an insult to the Speaker.

Reacting to Banerjee being appointed to administer the oath, Supriyo tweeted, "For the sake of people of Ballygunge, who did not have an MLA for several months since the demise of Subroto Mukherjee, I would request your excellency @jdhankhar1 ji to reverse the decision and allow Hon'ble Speaker to preside over my oath taking allowing me to start my work."

In another tweet, Dhankhar wrote, "Public domain request of Shri Babul Supriyo, elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 161-Ballygunge Assembly constituency seeking Governor for administration of oath by Hon'ble Speaker is not acceptable as not being in consonance with the Constitution."

"April 27 communication @SuPriyoBabul, eleven days after issuance of Certificate of Election, to Hon'ble Speaker for his oath as MLA is jurisdictionally flawed and unwholesome optics as Speaker has no role or constitutional competency in the matter, unless so assigned by Governor", added the Bengal Governor.

The Ballygunge Assembly seat bypoll was necessitated after the demise of state Minister Subrata Mukherjee. Polling for one parliamentary constituency Asansol and one assembly constituency Ballygunge in West Bengal was held on April 12.

( With inputs from ANI )