TMC expels two MLAs minutes after CM announces complaint against speaker over alleged forgery

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday (June 1, 2026) expelled Ritabrat Banerjee and Sandipan Saha as its MLAs, minutes after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvenda Adhikari announced that the duo had filed a complaint over alleged forgery of their signatures in a letter submitted by the TMC to the Speaker.

Addressing a press conference at Nabanna, State Secretariat, Mr. Adhikari said that Mr. Ritabrata Banerjee and Mr. Saha had submitted a written complaint to the Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly that their signature on the letter nominating Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly had been forged.

“Thanks to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari for exposing the MLAs. If they had any allegations, they should have written to party president Mamata Banerjee, not the president,” Trinamool MLA and party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said while announcing their expulsion from the party.

Many members of the party, including himself, Mr. Ghosh said, might have grievances against the Trinamool and might not agree with everything the party did, but that did not give them the right to complain about a political rival.

“None of these people won independently. They won as TMC representatives using Mamata Banerjee’s face. After they won, just because we are not in the government, they are doing it. If we were in power, the same people would have lobbied to become ministers,” said Mr. Ghosh, MLA from Beleghat. Why did the two MLAs fight the election under the TMC banner when they had so many complaints against the party, he asked.

While Mr. Saha is the MLA elected from Entally constituency in Kolkata, Mr. Ritabrata Banerjee is the MLA from Uluberia Purba. This is the first time Trinamool has cracked down on dissident leaders after the Assembly elections. The letter under scrutiny, addressed to the Speaker and signed by 70 Trinamool MLAs, was written by TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on 20 May.

Official notices sent to both the MLAs by the party stated that they had repeatedly failed to attend meetings called by the party leadership, made “anti-party statements” and therefore their memberships were canceled with immediate effect. “You will cease to hold any position, responsibility or privilege associated with the party,” the notice said.

The expulsion notice was signed by TMC Vice President, Chandrima Bhattacharya. After the expulsion, the number of TMC MLAs in the assembly has dropped to 78.

“The complaint was filed by both the MLAs on May 27 alleging that no resolution was passed to elect the Leader of Opposition. The complainants said their signature on the letter was tampered with,” Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said.

Mr. Saha told The Hindu on Monday that he welcomed his expulsion. “I was expelled from an immoral party for doing a moral thing. This party (TMC) only wants to work with immoral people, there is no place for moral people,” he said.

Meanwhile, Uluberia Purba MLA Mr. Ritabrata Banerjee said that the expelled MLAs had the right to file an official complaint with the Speaker of the House, a neutral entity that does not represent any party. “Everybody knows that there is no room to speak in Trinamool Congress. We may have said it; many could not say it. If TMC comes to power, even we may not be able to say it openly,” said Mr Ritabrata Banerjee, commenting on his expulsion.

Trinamool president Mamata Banerjee said that “some people who now have a problem with the party” must also remember that they became MLAs and MPs under the TMC banner and symbol. “The moment we lost, you turned around and came to an understanding with the other parties,” Ms. Banerjee said.

It was alleged that the names of 14 MLAs in the letter were forged. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police has questioned several MLAs in connection with the forgery.

Despite the impression that the CID was targeting opposition MLAs, the police were actually investigating the forgery case based on a complaint filed by the party’s own members, the Prime Minister said.

The CID summoned Mr. Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the case on Monday, but he failed to appear citing illness.

Published – 1 Jun 2026 15:41 IST