Kolkata: In a landmark judgement, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Thursday, had struck down the membership of Mukul Roy with the West Bengal Assembly.
Roy, the former Trinamool Congress General secretary, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the 2021 West Bengal elections and also successfully contested as a BJP candidate in Krishnanagar (Uttar) Assembly constituency in Nadia district of West Bengal.
However, he joined Trinamool Congress just days after the results were declared and Trinamool Congress came to power for the third consecutive term with a massive majority.
However, he did not resign as a member of the State Assembly and officially continued as a BJP legislator there.
The Assembly Speaker, Biman Bandopadhyay, rejected the BJP’s plea for the cancellation of Roy’s membership from the Assembly.
The Speaker said that since Roy was officially a BJP candidate, his membership could not be cancelled.
Roy was even made the Chairman of the public accounts committee (PAC) of the House, a post which is traditionally offered to an MLA from the principal Opposition party in the Assembly.
Thereafter, the BJP approached the Calcutta High Court seeking the cancellation of Roy’s membership from the House as a legislator from the Krishnanagar (Uttar) Assembly constituency.
After a prolonged hearing in the matter, finally on Thursday, Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi finally cancelled Roy’s membership from the House.
The division bench also quashed the order passed by the Speaker of the House earlier refusing to cancel the membership of Roy from the State Assembly.
However, considering that West Bengal is heading for the crucial Assembly elections next year, there will be no bypoll in Krishnanagar (Uttar) Assembly constituency during the interim period.
Welcoming the court judgment, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in West Bengal Assembly and senior BJP leader, Suvendu Adhikari, said that though delayed, the truth has finally triumphed.
“The Court with its Judgment, while preserving sanctity of the Constitution, especially the Tenth Schedule, also has left no second thought about the partisan attitude of the Assembly Speaker in deciding defection cases. I wholeheartedly welcome this historic judgment,” LoP Adhikari said in a social media statement reacting to the court judgment.
However, there was no reaction from Trinamool Congress or the Speaker of the House on the matter.
(IANS)
