SC Stays Bengal MLA Mukul Roy Disqualification Pending Review
SC Stays Bengal MLA Mukul Roy Disqualification Pending Review
SC stays Calcutta HC's disqualification order against Mukul Roy as MLA after BJP-TMC switch; a fresh round of responses ordered ahead of Bengal elections.
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Calcutta High Court's order disqualifying Mukul Roy as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly for switching from BJP to the Trinamool Congress after being elected in 2021. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued the interim order and sought responses from the assembly speaker and BJP lawmakers who had petitioned for Roy’s disqualification. The court directed that a counter affidavit be filed within four weeks and a rejoinder within two weeks. Roy’s son, Subhranshu Roy, who is a TMC member, had challenged the disqualification on grounds that his father is hospitalized, and argued that the speaker’s examination of material and decisions in June 2022 should stand, despite the High Court’s November 13 reversal of the speaker’s ruling.
