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Mukul Roy disqualification: Speaker holds 1st hearing; BJP may move court
Roy, who joined the BJP in 2017 and became the party’s national vice-president, returned to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) along with his son Subhranshu on June 11 but did not officially resign from the BJP
West Bengal assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Friday held the first hearing on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) demand for disqualification of Mukul Roy as legislator under anti-defection law.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, deposed for the hearing which lasted for around five minutes. The next hearing is set for July 30.
Meanwhile, after talking to the Speaker and submitting a 68-page document to back his demand, Adhikari told the media that the BJP is planning to move court.
“No law of the land is followed in Bengal. There the audio and video evidence, Twitter posts as well as statements made by people which prove that anti-defection law is applicable against Roy. Despite that, he was made chairman of the public accounts committee (PAC). The Speaker is not following established laws. We are planning to move court,” said Adhikari.
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Roy, who joined the BJP in 2017 and became the party’s national vice-president, returned to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) along with his son Subhranshu on June 11 this year but did not officially resign from the BJP.
Roy is still a BJP legislator. He was made chairman of the PAC of the Bengal assembly on July 9 before the budget session came to an end. In protest, six BJP MLAs who were made chairpersons of other standing committees resigned. On Friday, the Speaker selected TMC MLAs for these posts.
On June 18, Adhikari submitted a petition to the Speaker, saying Roy, the legislator from Kishnanagar North constituency in Nadia district, should be disqualified under anti-defection law.
Only the Speaker can take the decision on disqualifying a member. The Constitution does not specify any time frame for the process which involves inquiry, hearings and setting up of a committee.
The Speaker did not speak to the media on this issue. Parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee also refused to comment on the hearing.
