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Lessons from Uttarakhand crisis? Bengal set to revive legislative council
The West Bengal assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution supporting an ad hoc committee report that favoured creation of a legislative council. The BJP has opposed the move, calling it 'backdoor politics'.
The West Bengal assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution supporting an ad hoc committee report that favoured creation of a legislative council. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has slammed the move calling it "backdoor politics" to help party leaders get elected as lawmakers despite having lost the assembly polls.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee lost the recently-held assembly election against Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram and has to get elected to the state legislature in order to retain the post.
The development in being viewed as a bid by the Bengal government to prevent an Uttarakhand like situation in the state where Tirath Singh Rawat had to resign as chief minister, according to Hindustan Times' sister publication Live Hindustan.
Banerjee has six months to get elected. She lost by a narrow margin of 1,956 votes in Nandigram and is likely to contest the by-election from Bhowanipore. But there are concerns that the Election Commission may refuse to hold the by-election due to the prevailing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation, according to Live Hindustan. It had deferred the by-polls after the April-May elections in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry.
Meanwhile, the resolution on creation of a legislative council in West Bengal was moved by state parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee under Rule 169 of the Procedures of Conduct of Business of the House. Voting was duly held, with 196 of the 265 members present in the house supporting the council's creation and 69 opposing it.
Opposing the move, the BJP argued that the move would put pressure on the state exchequer. "Most of the states either don't have an upper house or have already abolished it. The real reason behind the TMC planning is to ensure backdoor entry for those leaders who failed to win assembly elections," leader of the opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
"The state, on the one hand, is saying it doesn't have funds, but the creation of this Legislative council will put additional pressure of ₹90-100 crores every year," he further said.
Adhikari added that the the resolution won't be passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha where the BJP has the majority.
Opposing the resolution, lone Indian Secular Front (ISF) MLA Naushad Siddiqui also echoed similar sentiments citing "pressure" on the exchequer of the state.
West Bengal Legislative Council was set up in 1952 and abolished in 1969 during the time of the United Front government.
The resolution would need a nod from the Governor, and after that, a bill has to be passed in Parliament. If passed, the bill will be sent for President's assent so that a Legislative Council can be created. Presently, six states - Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar - have a Legislative Council.
