Kolkata, June 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) The hearing on a crucial petition challenging the decision of West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose to accept expelled Trinamool Congress legislator Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the new majority bloc of the party in the House and as the official Leader of Opposition (LoP) concluded at a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday.
The single-judge bench of Justice Krishna Rao has reserved its judgment in the matter.
During the hearing, Justice Rao questioned why the demand to recognise the rival bloc led by Ritabrata Banerjee was accepted without giving the political leadership of the party it claims to represent a hearing.
This was the third hearing in the matter before Justice Rao’s bench. Earlier, the same bench had raised the issue of whether a legislator, in this case Ritabrata Banerjee, who had been expelled from the party, could be recognised as the Leader of the Opposition without the formal consent of the political party concerned.
Currently, Trinamool Congress has 80 legislators in the 294-seat West Bengal Assembly. Of them, 60 legislators, a figure Ritabrata Banerjee claimed had risen to 65 by June 1, support the new bloc he leads.
On the other hand, 20 legislators remain with the old bloc, continuing their allegiance to former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, the party’s General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
A Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe is already underway over alleged mismatches in the signatures of certain Trinamool legislators in the resolution submitted to the Speaker’s office nominating Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition, Asima Patra and Nayna Bandopadhyay as deputy leaders of the Opposition, and Firhad Hakim as the Chief Whip of the Trinamool legislative party in the Assembly.
The alleged mismatches were flagged by Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, prompting the CID to initiate a probe.
Trinamool immediately suspended Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha. Soon afterwards, 60 legislators, led by Ritabrata Banerjee, revolted and submitted a fresh resolution, claiming to be the majority bloc in the Trinamool legislative party.
The Speaker accepted the fresh resolution, and Ritabrata Banerjee was officially recognised as the Leader of the Opposition.
Subsequently, the petition was filed at Justice Rao’s bench challenging the Speaker’s decision.
Source: IANS
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