BJP moves Speaker seeking Mukul Roy’s disqualification
Suvendu Adhikari sought Mukul Roy’s disqualification under Rule 6 of the Members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday filed a petition before the West Bengal assembly speaker seeking the disqualification of Mukul Roy, the legislator from Kishnanagar North constituency in Nadia district, under the anti-defection law.
Roy, who joined the BJP in 2017 and became the party’s national vice-president, returned to the TMC on June 11 along with son Subhranshu, a former MLA.
The petition was filed by Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of Opposition in the state assembly. He joined the BJP in December last year, and defeated chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the Nandigram constituency in the recent polls. The TMC, however, bagged 213 of the 294 assembly seats to retain power, and the BJP could manage only 77 seats.
Adhikari sought Roy’s disqualification under Rule 6 of the Members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1986, read with Article 191 (2) and paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
In a letter to speaker Biman Banerjee, Adhikari said that Roy joined the TMC without formally resigning from the BJP, although he was elected to the assembly as a leader of the party.
“Adhikari should first impart lessons on defection to his father Sisir Adhikari, who joined the BJP despite being a Lok Sabha member of the TMC,” said TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh.
Sudip Bandopadhyay, leader of the TMC in the Lok Sabha, on Monday called up Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and urged him to take action on the three petitions he filed between January 4 and May 17 seeking the disqualifications of Sunil Mondal and Sisir Adhikari, who joined the BJP prior to the assembly polls.
Bandopadhyay called up the Speaker on the same issue on June 3. The second call was made on a day when 50 BJP legislators in Bengal met governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and demanded that any MLA who joins the TMC should face action under anti-defection law passed by the Parliament. Supporting them, Dhankhar said, “The anti-defection law is applicable to all states...I will ensure that it is enforced.”
Roy did not comment on Adhikari’s petition, but TMC leaders said that he could move the Calcutta high court if the speaker disqualifies him.
