Kolkata, Oct. 28 -- BJP's Hasirani Rath and Sakharov Sarkar, who won the recent Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls were sworn-in as MLAs in the West Bengal Assembly on Wednesday.
Speaker Rathindra Bose administered the oath of office to the two newly-elected legislators. Rath won the Nandigram seat in East Midnapore which was considered Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's stronghold. By-election in Nandigram was held after Adhikari vacated it following his victories in both Nandigram and Bhawanipore in the 2026 Assembly polls. Sarkar won the Rejinagar seat in Murshidabad district after Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) founder Humayun Kabir vacated it following his victories in both Rejinagar and Nowda, necessitating a bypoll. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari was present at the Assembly during the swearing-in event and asserted that oath-taking ceremonies and assembly sessions are now live-streamed, unlike in the past when the Trinamool Congress was in power. Several ministers were also present at the swearing-in ceremony.
The Chief Minister claimed that Debangshu Panda had won in Falta by a margin of 1,09,000 votes. According to him, the candidate of the previous ruling party had effectively withdrawn from the contest even before polling. He also claimed that one candidate in Nandigram withdrew their nomination before the election, while another candidate in a different constituency forfeited their security deposit.
Meanwhile, three MLAs from the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) faction defied direct party orders by attending the swearing-in ceremony of two newly-elected BJP MLAs in the West Bengal Assembly.
Ashok Deb, Motiur Rahman and Abdul Matin ignored the explicit instructions from Mamata Banerjee and the party leadership to boycott the event.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.