On Friday, the Supreme Court stayed the order of the Calcutta High Court which had disqualified senior West Bengal leader Mukul Roy as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) who had crossed the floor to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) after leaving the party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The High Court decision that the Assembly membership of Mukul Roy was invalid on grounds of anti-defection was suspended by a bench consisting of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. Reportedly by the news agencies, the stay was granted as the top court takes into account the legal considerations surrounding the case.
Remarkably, the ruling made by Calcutta High Court was regarded to be unprecedented because it was the first time when a constitutional court directly used its authority to disqualify an elected lawmaker on the basis of the anti-defection law. This was the most debated part of the verdict in the country both on the legal front and politically.
Mukul Roy, a former Trinamool Congress leader, had switched allegiance to BJP earlier than the assembly elections in West Bengal in 2021 and was elected to an MLA in Krishnanagar North in May 2021. Yet, in weeks following the election outcome – in which the TMC came back to power with a majority – Roy crossed over back to the Mamata Banerjee-led party in June 2021.
The High Court had since determined that defection by Roy to invite disqualification, and that Roy lost his seat in the Assembly. His status as an MLA is now reinstated on a temporary basis due to the stay by the Supreme Court till the case is ultimately decided.
Additional information about observations of the Supreme Court and the next hearing is still to be expected.
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