Veteran Trinamool Congress legislator Sovandeb Chattopadhyay has moved a division bench of the Calcutta High Court to challenge the order upholding the decision of the West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose. This decision accepted expelled Trinamool legislator Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the new majority bloc of the party in the House and the official Leader of Opposition.
The court order pronounced by Justice Krishna Rao refused to provide any interim direction on the Speaker’s decision regarding Ritabrata Banerjee as the LoP. The matter will continue to be heard in Justice Rao’s bench, with the next hearing scheduled for July 28. Before this hearing, Chattopadhyay approached the division bench challenging the single-judge bench order.
Justice Rao has instructed both the petitioner and the defendant to file affidavits by the next hearing date. Currently, there are 80 Trinamool Congress legislators in the 294-seat West Bengal Assembly. Out of these, 60 legislators are part of the rebel majority bloc, as claimed by Ritabrata Banerjee.
A Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe is ongoing regarding alleged signature mismatches in the resolution submitted to the Speaker’s office. This resolution nominated Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition, along with other key positions. The CID initiated the probe following concerns raised by Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha.
