The four MLAs wrote to the Speaker on Monday – when the monsoon session of the legislative assembly began – to administer the ceremony, Maniktala MLA Supti Pandey told The Indian Express.

This comes after the legislative assembly witnessed a month-long impasse between Governor C V Ananda Bose and the ruling Trinamool Congress over the oath-taking ceremony.

Bypolls for Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagdah and Maniktala were held on July 10, with TMC candidates Krishna Kalyani, Mukutmani Adhikari, Madhuparna Thakur and Supti Pandey winning these assembly seats.

After the MLAs were elected, the Speaker had written to Bose, asking if he would administer the ceremony, to which the latter reportedly did not respond. “If the Governor does not assign someone to administer the oath taking ceremony, the house will organise the ceremony during a session,” the Speaker had said.

Bose had, in the second week of June, asked two newly elected MLAs, Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Hossain Sarkar, to come to Raj Bhawan for the oath-taking ceremony. However, both MLAs refused to do so.

Following this, the Governor asked Deputy Speaker Ashish Banerjee to administer the ceremony. Banerjee denied, saying “it does not seem good that Deputy Speaker is administering oath while the Speaker is present”.

On July 5, the Speaker himself administered the oath taking ceremony, violating the Governor’s directive. However, the Governor then wrote a letter to the MLAs, telling them that the Speaker “cannot administer” their oath. He also informed them that if an MLA participates in assembly proceedings or voting procedure without taking oath, he or she would have to pay a fine of 500 rupees per day.

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