Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 13 : The Calcutta High Court has disqualified Mukul Roy as an MLA, ruling in favour of West Bengal LoP and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's petition alleging defection. The court criticised the Speaker's partisan handling of the case and upheld the constitutional sanctity of the Tenth Schedule, marking a historic first in West Bengal's political landscape.
In a post on X, Adhikari hailed it as a "historic judgment" that restores faith in democracy and exposes the Speaker's partisan conduct.
https://x.com/SuvenduWB/status/1988890561793622097?s=20
"In a landmark judgment and the first of its kind in West Bengal (possibly also in India), a Constitutional Court being the Division Bench of the Hon'ble High Court at Calcutta, consisting of the Hon'ble Justice Debangsu Basak and the Hon'ble Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi has disqualified Mukul Ray as an MLA owing to his defection. This historic judgment has been delivered in a hotly contested writ petition filed by me in my capacity as the Leader of Opposition," Adhikari wrote on X.
The post further added on X, "Their Lordships, while disqualifying Mukul Ray from being an MLA, have quashed the Order passed by the Hon'ble Speaker who had refused to do the same and had delayed his decision in the defection petition filed by me. Ultimately, truth prevails, although it may be delayed. The Hon'ble Court vide its Judgment, while preserving sanctity of the Constitution, especially the Tenth Schedule, also has left no second thought about the partisan attitude of the Hon'ble Speaker in deciding defection cases. I wholeheartedly welcome this historic judgment."
Mukul Roy, who was elected as a BJP MLA in May 2021, joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in August 2021 after the assembly elections, in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.