The Calcutta High Court on Thursday (November 13, 2025) disqualified senior political leader Mukul Roy from membership of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly following his defection to the Trinamool Congress after winning the Assembly polls on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket over four years ago.
A Division Bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi said that given the facts and circumstances of the case, it has been established that Mr. Roy defected from the BJP to the Trinamool on June 11, 2021. It held that such action has incurred the disqualification contemplated under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
“The respondent No. 2 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 11, 2021,” the court said.
The court further said that since Mr. Roy is declared to have suffered disqualification with effect from June 11, 2021, his nomination as Chairman of Public Accounts Committee has also been set aside.
Mr. Roy had joined the Trinamool Congress in June 2021 after being elected as an MLA from the Krishnanagar Uttar constituency on a BJP ticket.
Earlier this year, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari had submitted a written response before the Calcutta High Court concerning the defection of BJP MLAs to the Trinamool Congress.
Since the Trinamool came to power in West Bengal in 2011, nearly 50 MLAs from Opposition parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Congress, and more recently, the BJP, joined the Trinamool and continued to participate in Assembly proceedings.
“Over 50 MLAs since 2011 defected to the Trinamool and the Assembly Speaker did not disqualify their membership from the legislature. It was a four-year-long fight. Finally, the Constitution triumphed. I was the applicant as Leader of Opposition,” Mr. Adhikari said on Thursday (November 13, 2025).
Published – November 13, 2025 10:10 pm IST
