A day after the counting of votes for the West Bengal assembly elections concluded, Trinamool Congress senior leader Partha Chatterjee announced that Mamata Banerjee will take oath as the as Chief Minister on 5th May.
Partha Chatterjee made the announcement while addressing a press conference. The other MLAs will take the oath on May 6 following Miss Banerjee's oath as CM.
On May 2, the TMC bagged its victory in the state as it pocketed 213 of the 292 assembly seats that went to polls and secured a third straight term in office, according to the final results announced by the Election Commission.
However, the CM lost by 1,956 votes in Nandigram to former protege-turned-BJP adversary Suvendu Adhikari.
TMC's competitor, Bharatiya Janta Party bagged 77 seats, while the ISF, which contested with the symbol of the Rashtriya Secular Majlis Party, and an Independent, managed one seat each.
Though the BJP failed in its effort to dislodge Banerjee from power, it's for the first time that it will be the main opposition party in the state assembly, rising from a measly three seats in 2016 to 77.
The Left and the Congress, which ruled the state for decades, will this time have no representation as their alliance with the ISF the Samyukta Morcha mustered a vote share of less than 8 per cent.
TMC's heavyweight candidate Firhad Hakim won with a massive lead of 68,554 votes, while others like Javed Khan (63,622), Aroop Biswas (49,427), veteran Subrata Mukherjee (29,203), Partha Chatterjee (28,900) and Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay (28,719) also notched up big wins.
Apart from Adhikari, TMC turncoats Rajib Banerjee, Rudranil Ghosh, Baishali Dalmiya, Shilbhadra Dutta and Sabyasachi Dutta faced defeat.
Counting started at 8 am on Sunday and concluded around 1.55 pm on Monday, sources in the poll panel said. Elections were held in 292 constituencies of the 294- member assembly. Polling was countermanded in two constituencies Jangipur and Samsergan after candidates fell victim to a raging COVID-19 pandemic.
