Bengal: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet was sworn in as ministers on Sunday in a simple ceremony amid the raging covid-19 pandemic. Altogether 43 ministers, including 19 ministers of state, took oath at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata in presence of party supremo Mamata Banerjee. They were sworn in by Governor Gagdeep Dhankhar. While former finance minister Amit Mitra to take oath via video conferencing. After the swearing-in ceremony, Banerjee will hold the first meeting with her cabinet later in the day.

Veteran leaders who were sworn in as ministers include Subrata Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee, Firhad Hakim, Jyoti Priya Mallick, Moloy Ghatak, Aroop Biswas, Dr Shashi Panja and Javed Ahmed Khan. There were 15 new faces including former IPS officer Humayun Kabir, former Bengal Ranji captain Manoj Tiwari and Siuli Saha.

While Kabir was among 10 persons who became ministers of state (independent charge), Tiwari and Saha were featured in the list of nine MLAs sworn in as ministers of state.

On May 5, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was sworn in by the governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

In a recently concluded Assembly elections, TMC secured a third term with won a thumping majority. On Sunday, the Election commission counted votes for the assembly elections the ruling Trinamool Congress came out winning 213 of the 292 assembly seats.