Kolkata, Nov. 13 – In a decision that rattled West Bengal politics, the Calcutta High Court has annulled former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mukul Roy’s seat in the state assembly.
Roy, who had left TMC to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the 2021 elections, won the Krishnanagar (Uttar) seat as a BJP candidate. After the polls, just days after the results were announced and the BJP’s rivals TMC claimed a massive majority, Roy re‑joined the TMC. He didn’t resign as a BJP legislator, so his membership stayed active.
The assembly speaker, Biman Bandopadhyay, had earlier denied the BJP’s request to drop Roy’s MLA status and even gave him the chairmanship of the public accounts committee – a traditional role for the opposition. The BJP then asked the Calcutta High Court to clear the way for a by‑poll in Krishnanagar, but a bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi ruled that Roy’s membership should be cancelled. The bench also struck down the speaker’s earlier order that kept Roy on the rolls.
The ruling follows the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which tackles party‑switching and defection. With a crucial West Bengal assembly election looming next year, there will be no by‑poll in Krishnanagar until the polls take place.
Speaking on the verdict, opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari, a senior BJP figure, welcomed the court’s decision. “The Court has upheld the Constitution and the Tenth Schedule, showing it doesn’t matter how the speaker may decide,” he said in a social‑media post. No comment came from TMC or the speaker after the ruling.
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