Mukul RoyWest Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Wednesday rejected a plea by Leader of the Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari seeking to disqualify MLA Mukul Roy, saying he “did not find merit in the argument of the petitioner”.
The Calcutta High Court had on April 11 set aside the Speaker’s earlier order, dismissing a petition by Adhikari that sought disqualification of Roy as a member of the House on the ground of defection and restored the matter for fresh consideration. Speaking to reporters, Banerjee said, “I heard from both sides and elaborately discussed the earlier rulings cited by the petitioner. I have come to the conclusion that the petitioner has failed to prove his contention. The petitioner put the focus on electronic evidence. I took a note of those pieces of evidence, and those too failed to prove the charge.”
According to TMC sources, the Speaker’s order implies that Roy, who represents the Krishnanagar South Assembly constituency in Nadia district, remains a BJP MLA.
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Roy had defected to the ruling Trinamool Congress in June 2021, a month after winning the Assembly election on a BJP ticket. But, as he did not resign as a member of the House, Adhikari moved a disqualification petition against him before the Speaker under the anti-defection law. In February, the Speaker had dismissed the petition. Adhikari then challenged the order in the high court.
Notably, another BJP MLA Ambika Roy, too, had moved to the high court in July last year, challenging Roy’s election as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and prayed for the nomination of an opposition member to the post as per tradition.
The case is pending in court.
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