Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee will take oath for a third term as West Bengal chief minister on May 5, senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and minister Partha Chatterjee announced on Monday.
The newly-elected MLAs will also be sworn in by pro tem Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay on May 6.
TMC beat mighty BJP in the bitterly fought state elections in a resounding fashion, bagging 213 seats in the 294-member legislative assembly.
But the Trinamool supremo herself lost to one-time close aide Suvendu Adhikari in a see-saw battle in Nandigram. After plenty of ups and downs throughout the day, and some conflicting reports about the final outcome, Suvendu – who switched to BJP last December – was declared winner by 1956 votes.
Mamata accepted the verdict grudgingly, but again reiterated on Monday that some kind of malpractice in counting may have led to such a result.
“For four hours, the server was down. The Governor (Jagdeep Dhankar) also congratulated me. Suddenly everything changed,” she said.
TMC’s demand for recounting hasn’t been entertained by Election Commission, and Mamata said they might move the court.
Despite her defeat, Mamata can assume CM’s office, provided she gets elected as an MLA within 6 months.
Speculation has already started on where she will stand from.
She earlier won in Lok Sabha elections from South Kolkata, before successfully contesting from Bhowanipore Vidhan Sabha constituency.
This time, she opted to contest from Suvendu stronghold Nandigram, leaving Bhowanipore to Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay. Since Sobhandeb won comfortably, many feel that Mamata is unlikely to displace him.
But she’s likely to choose another constituency from Kolkata itself.
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