Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee takes oath as MLA

Kolkata, Oct 7:  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday took oath as a member of the state legislative assembly. Though she is the chief minister of the state, she was not a member of the House because she was defeated by the Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari in the assembly polls.

Banerjee became a member after she registered her victory from Bhabanipur in the by-election which was held on September 30.

Banerjee, who won the Bhabanipur bypoll by a margin of 58,835 votes, a record for the seat, took the oath in Bengali.

Banerjee was administered oath by the state's Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Two other newly elected TMC legislators Jakir Hossain and Amirul Islam also took oath soon afterwards.

Jakir Hossain was declared victorious by a huge margin of 92,480 votes from Jangipur, while Amirul Islam won from Samserganj by 26,379 votes.

Though it is a practice that the Speaker administers the oath in the assembly and he is authorised by the Governor but in an unprecedented way Dhankhar on Tuesday said he will administer the oath to Banerjee and others, in a departure from the practice.