Trinamool Congress member Derek O’Brien speaks in the Rajya Sabha on March 16, 2026. Photo: Sansad TV via ANI
Trinamool Congress MPs on Monday (16 March 2026) protested the recall of top bureaucrats in West Bengal on the direction of the Election Commission ahead of the state assembly polls and walked out of the Rajya Sabha and boycotted its session today.
Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O’ Brien said in the House: “In the dead of night, the chief secretary, the chief secretary and the home minister were removed by the Election Commission. They have all the power to do that.”
Mr O’ Brien said the Trinamool was not trying to disrupt the proceedings of the upper house and would stay away.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju condemned their action. “He is raising a case about a constitutional body that this House and the government have nothing to do with. If every MP wants to question a constitutional body like the courts and the Election Commission, it is not wise,” he said.
Accusing the Trinamool and the Congress of attacking constitutional bodies, the minister said the Trinamool had wasted the time of the House.
On Sunday (March 15, 2026), the Election Commission announced that the election to the 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal would be held in two phases on April 23, 2026 and April 29, 2026, followed by counting of votes on May 4, 2026. Barely hours later, the commission revoked the first order on Sunday, March 26 (late evening of March 5) Nandini Chakravorty and Home Minister Jagdish Prasad Meena. In a subsequent order dated 16 March 2026, she dismissed state DGP Peeyush Pandey and Kolkata Police Commissioner Supratim Sarkar, who were among the top four IPS officers in the state replaced before the elections.
Published – 16 March 2026 21:28 IST
