HC disqualifies Mukul Roy from Assembly, overturns Speaker’s decision
The Statesman | 14 November 2025
The Calcutta High Court on Thursday disqualified senior political leader Mukul Roy from the West Bengal Legislative Assembly for violating the anti-defection law.
The verdict overturns the earlier decision of Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, who had declined to act on petitions filed by the Opposition, marking a historic first in the country where an MLA has been removed by a court on defection grounds.
A Division Bench, presided over by Justice Debangsu Basak, cancelled Roy’s membership in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, acting on petitions filed by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and BJP MLA Ambika Roy.
The ruling also set aside Speaker Biman Banerjee’s earlier decision to dismiss the disqualification petition against Roy. The court also cancelled his appointment as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay, on Thursday evening, said that he will decide on his future course of action regarding the judgment. “I will decide on my future action only after studying the Calcutta High Court order in detail,” said the Speaker, who had himself been an advocate by profession. At the same time, he also reminded that in Assembly matters the decision of the Speaker is supreme.
On 9 July, 2021, Mukul Roy was appointed chairman of the PAC and later joined the ruling TMC.
The court found that Roy had engaged in anti-party activities by joining the Trinamul Congress (TMC) after being elected on a BJP ticket in the May 2021 Assembly election.
Roy, elected on a BJP ticket from Krishnanagar Uttar in Nadia district in the 2021 Assembly polls, was a former trusted lieutenant of TMC leader Mamata Banerjee. But Roy again crossed floor and joined the TMC, for which LoP Suvendu Adhikari had sought expulsion of Roy from the Speaker in the Assembly.
After the Speaker rejected the petition, Adhikari moved to the Calcutta High Court, which ultimately disqualified Roy on defection grounds.