UPDATE: 13:17 p.m. IST — The ceremony concludes with the national anthem.
UPDATE: 13:16 p.m. IST — Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Zakir Hossin, Indranil Sen Shyamal Santra take oath as Ministers of State.
UPDATE: 13:14 p.m. IST — Actor Shah Rukh Khan arrives at Mamata's oath-taking ceremony. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Union Minister Babul Supriyo are also present at the event.
UPDATE: 13:09 p.m. IST — Chandranath Singh, Soumen Mahapatra, Rajeeb Bandhopadhyay, Churamani Mahato, Malay Ghatak, Purnendhu Basu, Rabindranath Ghosh, Arup Roy Shantiram Mahato and Bratya Basu take oath, according to the Hindu.
UPDATE: 13:02 p.m. IST — TMC MLAs Abdur Rezzak Molla, Suvendu Adhikari, Sadhan Pandey, Jyotipriya Malkik, Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Javed Khan, Sovan Chatterjee, Gouam Deb, Amit Mitra, Partha Chatterjee, Abani Jowardar and Sovandeb Chatterjee take oath in batches, according to the Hindu.
UPDATE: 12:57 p.m. IST — Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah at the oath-taking ceremony, ANI tweeted.
UPDATE: 12:55 p.m. IST — Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay also graced the ceremony, according to the Hindu.
UPDATE: 12:48 p.m. IST — TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has been sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for a second consecutive term. Governor administers oath, the Hindu reports.
UPDATE: 12:44 p.m. IST — RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Uttar pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh yadav have also arrived for the ceremony, according to reports.
UPDATE: 12:39 p.m. IST — Former Indian skipper Sourav ganguly arrives at the ceremony, the Hindu reported.
UPDATE: 12:34 p.m. IST — Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata banerjee arrives at Red Road in Kolkata for her oath-taking ceremony, according to reports.
UPDATE: 12:31 p.m. IST — Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have arrived at the venue for the swearing-in ceremony, according to the Hindu.
Original Story —
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee is set to take oath on Friday as the chief minister of West Bengal for a second consecutive term. As many as 41 MLAs of the party will also take oath as new cabinet ministers in the state assembly.
According to an Indian Express report, Banerjee met Governor Kesari Nath Tripathi and submitted the list of ministers who will take oath along with her at the ceremony, which will be held on the Red Road in Kolkata at 12.45 p.m.
The Times of India quoted Banerjee as saying: "I have submitted the list to the honourable Governor. Along with me, altogether 42 of us will take oath tomorrow at the swearing-in ceremony. There has been representation from all districts, except Malda, caste, religion and creed. In Malda we don't have any representation. Out of the 42 there are a few new faces. The rest are the same."
The new faces in the state cabinet include former Indian cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Shovandeb Chattopadhaya, Kolkata Mayor Shovan Chatterjee, Abani Mohan Joarder, Abdur Rezzak Mollah, Suvendu Adhikari, Rabindranath Ghosh, Churamani Mahato, James Kujur, Siddikullah Choudhury, Asima Patra, Ghulam Rabbani, Zakir Hossain, Sandhya Rani Tudu, singer Indranil Sen, Tapan Dasgupta and B Hansda.
The guest list includes names of 13 dignitaries, according to the Statesman. The ceremony will be attended by Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and Amir Hossain Amu, the Bangladesh minister for industries who will be present on behalf of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Babul Supriyo have confirmed that they would also grace the event.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav are also expected to attend the ceremony, the daily reported. Other guests include RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, DMK chief M Karunanidhi and his daughter Kanimozhi, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and businessmen Subhash Chandra Goyel and Aroon Purie. Several artists from the Bengali film and television industry are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
The Indian Express reported that industrialist Mukesh Ambani may also attend the ceremony, in which a turnout of at least 20,000 people is expected. Around 4,000 invitation cards have been printed. Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee has also been invited.
The Congress party, the Left front and the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) state unit have boycotted the ceremony over post-poll violence, according to Economic Times. The parties plan to hold demonstrations near the venue.
The BJP has limited its protests to districts. Senior BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh was quoted by the daily as saying: "It is a symbolic protest against the post-poll violence."
The entire stretch of Red Road has been closed for traffic since May 23 midnight and will remain inaccessible to the public till two days after the ceremony.
