Mamata sworn in as member of West Bengal legislative assembly

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was sworn in as a member of the state legislative assembly today, a week after she won the by-poll in the Bhabanipur constituency in south Kolkata by a record margin.

In a break from convention, Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar swore Mamata in, who won the Bhabanipur by-poll by a margin of 58,835 votes.

Mamata took the oath in Bengali.

Under Article 188 of the Constitution, a Governor can either himself swear in the newly-elected legislators or delegate the power to the Speaker of the legislature.

Mamata needed to win the election to retain the chief minister's chair after her defeat against protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari of Bharatiya Janata Party in Nandigram by 1,956 votes in the March-April assembly elections.

Mamata was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 5 for a third consecutive tenure after leading her party to a landslide victory in the assembly poll earlier this year. But her defeat in Nandigram had left a bitter taste.

Two other newly-elected TMC legislators Jakir Hossain and Amirul Islam also took oath after Mamata today.

Jakir Hossain was elected from Jangipur, and Amirul Islam won from Shamserganj.

In another boost to TMC in Bengal, BJP state secretary and the former Mayor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Sabyasachi Dutta, who had quit the ruling party to join the saffron camp two years ago, returned to the Mamata Banerjee-led party today.

Dutta claimed some "misunderstanding" had prompted him to leave TMC, but that has now been "resolved."

Dutta, who is the latest in a row of TMC turncoats to come back to the parent party after having joined BJP during the run-up to the assembly elections in April-May, had lost the Bidhannagar seat to TMC's Sujit Bose.