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Calcutta High Court Disqualifies Mukul Roy as Bengal MLA for Defection, Effective From 2021

By invoking the Tenth Schedule directly, the court reversed the Speaker’s finding, also setting aside Roy’s PAC appointment.

Overview

  • Mukul Roy was declared disqualified with effect from June 11, 2021, the day he publicly joined the Trinamool Congress after winning on a BJP ticket.
  • A division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi allowed petitions by Suvendu Adhikari and BJP MLA Ambika Roy.
  • The bench termed Speaker Biman Banerjee’s earlier decision on Roy’s status as perverse and unsustainable in law.
  • The order vacates Roy’s nomination as Public Accounts Committee chair, a post traditionally held by the opposition.
  • The Krishnanagar Uttar seat now stands vacant, with officials indicating a bypoll is unlikely due to imminent state assembly elections; lawyers say this may be the first high court-led disqualification under the anti-defection law.