Mamata Banerjee takes oath as an MLA of the West Bengal Assembly

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday took oath as an MLA of the state Assembly along with Trinamool Congress leaders Amirul Islam and Jakir Hossain.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar administered the oath to Banerjee, Islam and Hossain.

The bye-elections to three constituencies in the state had taken place on September 30. The counting took place on Sunday.

Banerjee won the bye-poll in Kolkata’s Bhabanipur constituency. She defeated Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate Priyanka Tibrewal by a margin of 58,835 votes.

In Jangipur, Hossain won against BJP’s Sujit Das by a margin of 92,480 votes. Islam won against Congress’ Zaidur Rahaman by a margin of 26,379 votes in Samserganj.

Banerjee had to win the bye-poll to get elected as an MLA so that she could continue as the chief minister of the state.

In the West Bengal Assembly elections held earlier this year, Banerjee had lost the Nandigram constituency to her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, who had defected to the BJP before the polls. However, the Trinamool Congress won a clear majority in the elections and Banerjee took oath as the chief minister for a third consecutive term.

As per provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951, she needed to get elected as an MLA within six months of taking oath.

West Bengal had witnessed several…

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