Explained: Suvendu Adhikari versus Mukul Roy over disqualification

Mukul Roy is often credited to have begun the trend of defection in Bengal politics when the TMC ended the 34-year-long Left Front rule in the state in 2011. Now, Suvendu Adhikari along with other BJP leaders has demanded disqualification of Roy as an MLA after he joined his former party TMC last week.

West Bengal is a unique case with regards to the anti-defection law. The law has not been enforced in the state despite West Bengal having witnessed a number of crossovers, particularly in the past one decade. In the latest instance, Mukul Roy, elected on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket recently joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on June 11. Mukul Roy did not officially resign from the post of vice-president he held in the BJP or as an MLA before joining the TMC. Now, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, has moved for disqualification of Mukul Roy as an MLA for acting in violation of the anti-defection law of 1985 (the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution).