HC disqualifies TMC’s Roy as MLA under anti-defection law

The Calcutta high court on Thursday disqualified Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mukul Roy from the West Bengal assembly under the anti-defection law for switching over to the ruling TMC, after having been elected on a BJP ticket in the 2021 elections.

- Tanmay Chatterjee

Roy, who won the Krishnanagar North seat in Nadia district as a BJP candidate in the 2021 assembly polls, joined the TMC on June Il, 2021. This is the first time an MLA from West Bengal has been disqualified by a court, legislators said, adding that such a power is given only to the speaker of the Parliament or that of a state legislative assembly under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.

The division bench of justices Debangshu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi, while hearing petitions by leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari and BJP MLA Ambika Roy, said “Mukul Roy is declared to have become disqualified in terms of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India and the Rules of 1986 with effect from June Il, 2021.”