Agartala, Dec. 21: All the 27 elected Left Front councillors of the Agartala Municipal Council took oath of office and secrecy at Agartala Town Hall this afternoon.

The list includes chairperson Sankar Das, vice-chairperson Samar Chakraborty and a five-member chairperson-in-council comprising Shyamal De, Biswanath Saha, Chitra Debbarma, Bipad Bandhu Rishidas and Kalyani Chowdhury.

The oath of office and secrecy was administered by officiating district magistrate (West) C.K. Jamatya. The SDO (Sadar), Moslemuddin, also attended the programme.

“The Congress councillors informed us yesterday that they would take oath of office on Friday and we have agreed,” Jamatya said. The Congress has eight councillors.

Das who scored a hattrick by becoming AMC chairman for the third consecutive time, told reporters that his top priority for the next five years would be providing refined drinking water to all the citizens living in the municipal areas.

After the swearing-in ceremony, the newly elected councillors reached the nearby Astabol ground to attend the Left Front’s victory rally.

The highlight of the rally was a speech by chief minister and CPM politburo member Manik Sarkar who called for introspection.

“It is good that we have captured 13 of the 15 nagar panchayats and the Agartala Municipal Council by fair margin of votes, but I think we should introspect as to why we could not perform better and how the Congress has increased its vote share,” Sarkar said.

He said the victory was an “unimpeachable proof” of people’s democratic consciousness. “For many years more than 90 per cent of the electorate have been casting their votes in election after election; in the last Assembly polls the polling percentage was 92 and in the just-concluded civic polls, it was 90 per cent; it is a matter of pride for us.”

Sarkar also urged party workers and supporters to “swing into action” and ensure the Left Front’s success in the upcoming election to the village committees under the autonomous district council.

“This time you must ensure that the Left Front captures all the 527 committees to strengthen the Left forces in the state,” Sarkar said.