Nearly four weeks after getting elected to the State Assembly, former MP and Union Minister Babul Supriyo was on Wednesday administered oath as an MLA by Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee. This brought to an end weeks of confusion between the Raj Bhavan and the West Bengal Legislative Assembly over who would administer the oath.
Usually, it is the Speaker of the Assembly who administers oath to newly elected MLAs but on this occasion, the oath was administered by the Deputy Speaker. According to sources, Speaker Biman Banerjee had convinced Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee to administer the oath to Mr. Supriyo.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had gone public in the last week of April, tweeting that “Reports in section of media re: oath @SuPriyoBabul as MLA misleading. Under article 188 of Constitution, he has to make & subscribe oath before ‘Governor, or some person appointed in that behalf by him’. Urgent response sought on issues @itspcofficial is awaited from WBLA”.
