On Thursday, the Calcutta High Court delivered a landmark ruling disqualifying senior politician Mukul Roy from the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, holding that his post-election switch from the BJP to the Trinamool Congress violated the anti-defection law.
Mukul Roy was elected to the West Bengal Assembly in May 2021 on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket. However, in August the same year, he joined the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Following this, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and BJP MLA Ambika Roy filed petitions seeking his disqualification under the anti-defection law.
The petitioner challenged the order of Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, who had earlier rejected his plea for Roy’s disqualification. Adhikari contended that Roy had voluntarily given up membership of the BJP by joining the TMC after being elected on a BJP ticket, thereby attracting provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
The Calcutta High Court, presided over by Justice Debangsu Basak, examined the Speaker’s order and the circumstances surrounding Roy’s political switch. The Court observed that joining another political party after being elected on a rival party’s ticket constituted a clear case of defection under the Tenth Schedule.
The High Court set aside the Speaker’s decision and disqualified Mukul Roy as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, holding that his actions amounted to defection in violation of the anti-defection law.
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