Mamata Banerjee`s swearing-in today, oath-taking to be low-key due to COVID-19 pandemic

The swearing-in of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee as Chief Minister at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday morning will be a low-key programme due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony is scheduled to be held at around 10.45 am.

Kolkata: The swearing-in of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee as chief minister at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday morning will be a low-key programme, scheduled to be held at around 10.45 am, given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said that only a few invitees will be present at the programme because of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Invitations for the programme have been sent to her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, leader of Opposition of the outgoing House Abdul Mannan and CPI(M) veteran leader Biman Bose, said an official on Tuesday.

Chief ministers of other states and leaders of other political parties have not been invited for the programme keeping in mind the current COVID-19 situation in the country, the official told PTI.

"It has been decided to keep the oath-taking ceremony of Mamata Banerjee a very simple one because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Banerjee will be the only leader who will be taking oath tomorrow. The programme will be a very brief one," PTI quoted the official as saying. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has also been invited for the ceremony, the official said.

Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, poll strategist Prashant Kishor and party leader Firhad Hakim are likely to be present at the ceremony scheduled to be held at the Raj Bhavan at around 10.45 am on May 5, TMC sources said.

The TMC has come to power for the third time in a row in West Bengal, pocketing 213 of the 292 assembly seats that went to polls. The BJP has bagged 77 seats.

Notably, a day after the Trinamool Congress emerged victorious in the West Bengal Assembly elections, several incidents of violence that allegedly left many BJP workers dead and injured were reported in West Bengal on Sunday. 

Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the state government on the post-election violence “targeting opposition political workers in the state”.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday took cognisance of the alleged post-poll violence in West Bengal and ordered an investigation fact-finding team to conduct a spot inquiry and submit a report at the earliest, preferably within two weeks.

In a statement, the NHRC pointed out allegations of deaths of a few people in the violent incidents. "The political workers allegedly clashed with each other, party offices were torched down and some homes were ransacked & valuables also looted. District Administration & local Law & order enforcement agencies appear not to have acted to stop such violation of human rights of the affected persons," the commission said. 

The NHRC further said, "Considering as a fit case of alleged violation of Right to Life of the innocent citizens, the Commission has today taken suo-motu cognizance of the matter and has requested its DIG (Investigation) to constitute a team of the officers of the Investigation Division of the Commission to conduct an on the spot fact-finding investigation and to submit a report at the earliest, preferably within two weeks."

(With Agency Inputs)