In a landmark judgement, the Calcutta High Court has disqualified Mukul Roy as an MLA, thus rendering the verdict in favour of West Bengal Leader of Opposition(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 of the constitution, thus marking a historic first in West Bengal’s political landscape. Mukul Roy has thus been ousted from the West Bengal Assembly as per the provisions of the anti-defection law of 1985.
In a post on X, Adhikari hailed the verdict as a “historic judgment” which restores faith in democracy and exposes the Speaker’s partisan conduct. “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 his X social media platform.
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…
— Suvendu Adhikari (@SuvenduWB) November 13, 2025
“Their Lordships, while disqualifying Mukul Roy 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”, LoP Suvendu Adhikari further added.
Mukul Roy, was elected as an MLA in May 2021 from Krishnanagar Uttar constituency via the BJP ticket. However he defected to Trinamool Congress (TMC) in August 2021 after the assembly elections. He joined TMC in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. With the court announcing disqualification of Mukul Roy as an MLA, he has also lost his chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committe(PAC).
Anti-defection law of 1985 was inducted into the Indian Constitution through the 52nd constitutional amendment act. Schedule 10 of the constitution also deals with the anti-defection law. The law aims at containing political defections. As per the law, a member of the legislative assembly or Parliament loses his/her membership if he/she voluntarily gives up the membership of the poliical party from which he/she would have won the elections and defects to another political party.
(With Inputs from ANI)
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