MAMATA TO TAKE OATH ON MAY 5 AS BENGAL SEES VIOLENCE DAY AFTER RESULTS

KOLKATA:

Mamata Banerjee will be sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the third time on May 5, the Trimanool Congress (TMC) announced on Monday, a day after the regional party won a thumping majority in the assembly polls.

The newly-elected MLAS of the Trinamool Congress unanimously elected Banerjee as the legislative party leader at a meeting in Kolkata, its secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said. The TMC legislators elected the speaker in the outgoing House, Biman Banerjee, as the pro-tem speaker in the new Assembly.

“The newly-elected members will take oath in the Assembly from May 6,” Chatterjee said after the meeting.

Meanwhile, post poll clashes erupted in many places across West Bengal since Sunday, prompting governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to summon the state’s director general of police at Raj Bhavan on Monday and chief minister Mamata Banerjee urging people to maintain peace.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that at least five party workers and supporters were killed since Sunday and a few hundred party offices and houses of BJP workers were ransacked across the state as the counting progressed, and the trends became clearer.

Banerjee, however, rejected the allegations and said that BJP was spreading lies using old pictures of riots that took place outside Bengal.

Press Trust of India