Calcutta HC questions TMC MLA Appointment of Ritabrat Banerjee as LoP Speaker

Expelled TMC MLA Ritabrata Banerjee. | Photo credit: ANI

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday (June 11, 2026) questioned the Speaker’s decision to recognize expelled Trinamool Congress MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) of the West Bengal Assembly without the consent of the political party.

While hearing a petition filed by the Trinamool Congress against President Rathindra Bose’s move to accept a proposal by a group of 59 rebel MLAs to recognize Mr. Ritabrat Banerjee as LoP in place of Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, a single bench of the court headed by Justice Krishna Rao was asked who has been appointed to any political party, “A person who has been appointed as LoP. excluded, can the Speaker recognize a rebel leader as LoP without the consent of a political party?”

In response, the state, represented by Additional Advocate General (AAG) Bilwadal Bhattacharya, sought time to file an affidavit with all relevant records, including the impugned order. The court scheduled the next hearing for June 16.

Senior advocate and TMC MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, who appeared before the petitioners, argued that the Speaker’s decision “hit the basic fabric of the Constitution” by violating its Tenth Schedule, which laid down the law governing the relationship between a political party and its legislature.

He is looking for temporary residence

Seeking an interim stay on the Speaker’s decision, Mr. Bandyopadhyay told the court, “Who will be appointed as LoP? There is a legal structure which is usually followed. The order will be given with the consent of the political party to which they belong, not the legislature party. This rebel group is not willing to be merged with any other political party, while two of their MLAs are independent in such a situation. There should be no LoP.”

He argued that the matter was not about whether “the signatures were right or wrong. It was only about the consent of the political party. After the party expelled him, it was not even challenged. How could the speaker recognize him as LoP? The speaker’s final decision was neither uploaded to the web nor to any public domain.”

At least 59 out of 80 MLAs of the Trinamool Congress rebel camp elected the relatively young Mr. Ritabrat Banerjee (47) as the Leader of the Opposition over 10-time MLA Mr. Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay (82).

A letter appointing Mr. Chattopadhyay as LoP was submitted to the Speaker on May 20, but MLAs Mr. Ritabarta Banerjee and Sandipan Saha alleged that their signatures were forged and ended up being expelled from the party. The first information report was registered on the complaint of the expelled MLAs and the investigation reached the doorstep of national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who signed the letter.

Mr. Bandyopadhyay further alleged that the resolution to nominate Mr. Chattopadhyay as LoP was passed by the TMC legislature in the May 6 meeting but was not registered in the writ petition. “So another meeting was called on May 19 to get these signatures, but May 6 was fixed as the official date for the motion when the resolution was passed. At least 70 MLAs signed it that day, with many also sending their signatures online. The resolution was handed over to the chairman and also to each member by Mr. Abhishek Banerjee on May 20. MLA Mr. Banerjee Mr. R. Sanderije voted out two. Saha, the decision was again forwarded to all It is clear that the party’s decision was communicated each time, whether a formal written resolution was in place or not.

Meanwhile, AAG Mr. Bhattacharya argued that the petition suffers from incomplete pleadings and no specific prayer has been made to set aside the Speaker’s decision. He stated that the minutes of the meeting could be obtained through the procedure laid down in the House Rules and asked for time to present the relevant materials to the court.

Published – 11 Jun 2026 22:17 IST