Babul Supriyo, Bengal guv Dhankhar trade barbs amid row over swearing-in

Kolkata: Former Union minister Babul Supriyo, who won the April 12 by-election from Kolkata’s Ballygunge assembly seat, can continue as a member of the legislative assembly (MLA) without taking part in legislative work if the oath of office is not administered to him, West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar tweeted on Tuesday amid drama over the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader’s swearing-in ceremony.

Seven months after Dhankhar withdrew assembly speaker Biman Banerjee’s power to administer the oath of office to members of the state legislature; Supriyo has landed in a public debate.

Dhankhar, whose September 2021 order potentially opened up another front in the long-running battle between the state’s top constitutional authority and the government, has entrusted deputy speaker Asish Banerjee to administer the oath of office to Supriyo. Asish Banerjee has refused to carry out the responsibility, saying it is inappropriate for him to perform the duty when the speaker is in office.

The Ballygunge seat in south Kolkata fell vacant following the death of minister Subrata Mukherjee in November last year. Supriyo, who joined the TMC in September after being dropped from the Union government, won the seat by over 20,000 votes.

“If I get any order from Raj Bhawan, I will write back saying I will not be able to administer the oath of office to Supriyo when the speaker is present,” Ashish Banerjee said on Tuesday afternoon after the issue was discussed at a meeting at the speaker’s chamber in the state assembly where state parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee was present. It was decided that a letter would be sent to Raj Bhawan, requesting the governor to administer the oath.

According to convention, it is the speaker who administers the oath to legislators while the governor administers the oath of office to ministers. Raj Bhawan officials did not comment on the development till late evening.

The imbroglio started after Supriyo wrote a letter to the speaker on April 27, urging him to “do the needful” to enable him to take oath as MLA.

While this was seen in political circles as a move to let Biman Banerjee perform his duty as speaker, Dhankhar issued an official order on April 30, empowering the deputy speaker to administer the oath of office.

“By virtue of the power vested in me by article 188 of the Constitution of India, Dr. Asish Banerjee, Deputy Speaker, WBLA is appointed as the person before whom Shri Babul Supriyo, elected from 161-Ballygunge Assembly constituency, shall make and subscribe an oath,” the order said.

Reacting to this, Asish Banerjee told the media that since the speaker is holding office it would be inappropriate for him to step in. Supriyo also told a section of the media that an embarrassing situation could have been avoided.

The matter escalated on Monday when Raj Bhawan issued a statement.

“Sri Babul Supriyo is an MLA with effect from issuance of certificate of election on April 16, 2022. While he addressed no communication to the Governor, his communication to Honourable Speaker on April 27, after 11 days of having been issued a certificate of election for taking oath is misconceived and with his enormous experience as Union minister and Parliamentarian, he is obviously expected to be aware that the Honourable Speaker has no role or constitutional competency in the matter, unless so assigned by the Governor. Sri Babul Supriyo approaching the Honourable Speaker regards oath is jurisdictionally flawed unwholesome optics,” the statement said.

Tweeting his reply to the governor on Monday, Supriyo wrote: “Sir, since you have raised a questions to me in the public domain, it is my duty to not avoid it but attend to it dutifully with utter humility, though, with my limited knowledge I don’t know if the Constitution debars an oath-less MLA to reply to HE Governor’s in the public domain.”

Dhankhar shot back on Tuesday.

“Issue raised @SuPriyoBabul settled by Supreme Court in Pashupati Nath Sukul vs Nem Chandra Jain 1984 AIR 399- An elected member without taking oath can take part in all non-legislative work. April 16 Certificate of Election entitles him from that date as MLA to serve public,” the governor tweeted.

This triggered a series of seven tweets from Supriyo.

“Hon’ble Sir, I am elated and honoured that you are devoting your precious time for my ‘case’, if any. Sir, I just wish to share a simple thought with you with the hope that, as a father figure, you would understand the emotion with which I write this..,” Supriyo wrote in his first tweet

“It’s a different thing Sir that I actually won thanks to the voters of Ballygunge. Hence Sir, irrespective of what the Supreme Court judgement may say, I am already deep into working my way forward for my constituency, my oath notwithstanding…” Supriyo tweeted. He also attached a statement Ashish Banerjee made refusing to administer the oath.

“Hon’ble Sir, Constitution is supreme and so is your knowledge of it but all empowerments of the constitution also bestows us with the responsibility to exercise such power with propriety and in this respect, pardon me Sir, I do strong feel that you could have been ‘Kinder’ “ Supriyo wrote in another tweet, adding that he was resting his case.

TMC leaders said a similar crisis arose in November and chief minister Mamata Banerjee had to step in to ensure that TMC candidates who won the Khardah, Dinhata, Santipur and Gosaba assembly seats in by-elections could be sworn in.

“The governor first said he was delegating the power to the deputy speaker as he would not be able to attend the ceremony. When Mamata Banerjee personally called up Dhankhar, he agreed to empower the speaker to administer the oath,” a senior TMC leader said on condition of anonymity.

Mamata Banerjee herself faced a crisis in September after she won the Bhawanipore seat in Kolkata in a by-poll.

A note from Raj Bhawan reached the office of the speaker a few days before the September 30 assembly by-poll at Bhawanipur and polls at two seats in Murshidabad district.

The letter cited Section 188 of the Constitution which deals with oath or affirmation of lawmakers. “Every member of the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council of a State shall, before taking his seat, make and subscribe before the Governor, or some person appointed in that behalf by him, an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule,” it says.

Mamata Banerjee, who was defeated at Nandigram in the March-April polls in 2021, contested and won her old Bhawanipore seat. To continue as chief minister, she needed to be sworn in as a member of the assembly by November 4.

The governor’s decision to strip the speaker of his power forced the TMC to reschedule Banerjee’s oath taking, which was initially planned for October 4.

On October 1, the government wrote to Dhankhar, urging him to authorize the speaker to conduct the programme but Dhankhar sought a gazette notification on the Bhawanipore bypoll results. A gazette notification was issued and the governor agreed to administer the oath himself on October 7.

Speaker Biman Banerjee and the governor had earlier clashed over the latter’s request for a live telecast of his speech at the assembly. The speaker did not allow this. The speaker has also complained on several occasions that Dhankhar interfered in his duties.