West Bengal Assembly dissolved

Kolkata: The office of the West Bengal Governor, R. B. Ravi, on Thursday announced the dissolution of the state Legislative Assembly amid the announcement of the results of the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly polls on May 4, establishing BJP’s thumping two-thirds majority.

In a statement issued by the Lok Bhaban (previously Raj Bhavan) on Thursday evening, it claimed that the office of the Governor had ordered the dissolution of the West Bengal Assembly as per the power conferred upon the Governor of a state “under sub-clause (b) of Clause (2) of Article 174 of the Constitution of India.”

“The order has come into force in accordance with the constitutional provisions contained under Article 174(2) of the Constitution of India,” the statement issued by the Lok Bhaban read.

The announcement of the order for dissolving the West Bengal Assembly comes amid the announcement by the outgoing (now former) West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, that she would not formally submit her resignation as the Chief Minister to the Governor, since she felt that the results were not the “true reflection of public mandate.”

However, legal experts explained that the Governor’s decision to dissolve the state Assembly means automatic dissolution of the previous state Cabinet, thus officially giving Mamata Banerjee the status of a “former Chief Minister.”

In such a situation, the question that arises is who will be in charge of the state now during the interim period from Thursday evening to 10 a.m. on Saturday, when the oath ceremony of the new Cabinet will be conducted in the presence of the Prime Minister, PM Modi, and the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, among others.

Political observers feel that probably no one has a clear answer to this question, since none ever thought that a Chief Minister whose party had been defeated and who herself had been defeated would refuse to follow the tradition of submitting her resignation to the Governor.

Legal experts feel that during the interim period, either the Governor can directly take over the administration or can recommend President’s Rule during that interim period.

IANS