Amid standoff with Guv, Bengal Speaker convenes special session

Amid the ongoing impasse over the swearing-in of two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs, Speaker Biman Banerjee on Thursday summoned a special session of the West Bengal Assembly and asserted that the functioning of the House is not solely dependent on the Governor.

While talking to reporters, Banerjee said the Business Advisory Committee meeting has been scheduled for noon on Friday and the tenure of the session will be decided in the meeting.

"The Special Session will begin at 2 pm tomorrow," he said.

"If someone thinks that we are helpless, then he or she is wrong. The assembly is not helpless, and everything is not in the hands of the Governor. You can't just force everything down our throats; there are rules, regulations, and constitutional norms. All of us have to abide by them," Banerjee said.

Two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs staged a sit-in protest at the West Bengal Assembly premises for the sixth day on Thursday, demanding that they be administered the oath of office in the House rather than at Raj Bhavan, following an invitation from Governor C V Ananda Bose.

Baranagar MLA Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Bhagabangola legislator Rayat Hossain Sarkar began their sit-in protest on June 27 and continued on June 28, July 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Despite being declared winners in the assembly by-polls, they have yet to assume their roles as elected representatives due to the pending swearing-in process.

The Speaker, who previously sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu on this matter, accused the governor on Friday of turning it into an ego battle.

"The governor is deliberately creating an impasse. He has turned it into an ego battle. This matter should be resolved so that the MLAs can take the oath," he said.

Bandyopadhyay and Sarkar have resumed their sit-in protest near the statue of B R Ambedkar on the assembly premises, holding placards that read 'We are waiting for the Governor'.

The two MLAs were elected during the by-polls held concurrently with the Lok Sabha elections but have refused to take the oath at Raj Bhavan.

They argue that convention dictates the governor should assign either the Speaker of the House or the Deputy Speaker to administer the oath in the case of by-poll winners.

The Governor had invited them to take the oath at Raj Bhavan last Wednesday, which they declined, citing procedural norms.