Kolkata, 13 May (H.S.): West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday took oath as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Bhabanipur constituency in the West Bengal Assembly.

Before entering the Assembly building, the Chief Minister bowed at the steps of the House as a mark of respect. He was formally welcomed inside the Assembly premises and was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour in keeping with established protocol.

Adhikari was received by pro tem Speaker and BJP MLA from Maniktala, Tapas Roy. The Chief Minister later paid floral tribute to the statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar before proceeding to the chamber designated for the Chief Minister inside the Assembly complex.

He also performed prayers at the chamber and later shared a video of the ritual on social media platform X, where he was seen ringing a bell during the worship ceremony.

The Chief Minister was the first legislator to take oath before pro tem Speaker Tapas Roy in the Assembly chamber. With his oath-taking as MLA from Bhabanipur, it became clear that he would vacate the Nandigram Assembly seat, from where he had also won in the recent elections.

Adhikari later shared a video of his swearing-in ceremony on X.

Following the Chief Minister, several members of the state Cabinet also took oath, including Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul and Nisith Pramanik. Thereafter, the oath-taking process for other newly elected legislators began.

Sources said nearly 80 MLAs took oath in the first phase of the ceremony till around 1:30 p.m. Legislators from North Bengal and Murshidabad districts were among those sworn in during this phase.

Humayun Kabir also took oath as MLA from the Naoda constituency, fuelling speculation that he may vacate the Rejinagar seat.

The second phase of the swearing-in ceremony began at 2 p.m. and continued till 4 p.m., covering legislators from Nadia, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts.

The oath-taking ceremony of newly elected MLAs will continue on Thursday as well, with pro tem Speaker Tapas Roy administering the oath to all members. Traditionally, the senior-most legislator is appointed pro tem Speaker and presides over the House until the election of the permanent Speaker.

On Tuesday, Governor R. N. Ravi administered the oath of office to Tapas Roy as pro tem Speaker at Lok Bhavan. The election for the post of Assembly Speaker is scheduled to be held on May 15. According to sources, Tapas Roy’s name is under consideration for the Speaker’s post.

Notably, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had attended the swearing-in ceremony of Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam earlier on Tuesday morning. After returning from Assam, he went directly to Lok Bhavan, where several ministers and newly elected MLAs were also present.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh