Supreme Court nudges West Bengal Speaker to rule on defection pleas by October 8

The Supreme Court on Monday urged the Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly to conclude disqualification proceedings against ten rival legislators by October 8, 2026, the date on which the three-month period indicated in an earlier ruling of the court expires.

The proceedings arise from petitions filed on July 8, 2026 under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which governs disqualification on the ground of defection. The petitions were moved by the Trinamool Congress faction led by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee against legislators belonging to a rival group that had constituted a separate front following an alleged special session on June 27, 2026, after the party's defeat in the Assembly elections that year.

Appearing for the Mamata Banerjee camp, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Vivek Tankha, along with advocate Preetika Dwivedi, told a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant that the court had held in the Keisham Meghachandra Singh versus Speaker, Manipur Legislative Assembly judgment that a Speaker acting as a tribunal under the anti-defection law must decide such petitions within a reasonable time. The court had suggested three months as a reasonable period in the absence of exceptional circumstances.

Mr. Sibal submitted that the three-month window ends on October 8 and that a pattern had emerged in which Speakers leave disqualification petitions unaddressed while rebel legislators approach the Election Commission and obtain interim relief. He referred to an interim order of the Commission on September 17 freezing the party's name and symbol to place the two rival groups on an even keel and protect their rights and interests. He argued that the court needed to examine this pattern, warning that otherwise it would create political havoc.

The Chief Justice was reluctant to intervene, indicating instead that the court would record its hope that the Speaker would follow the law laid down in the Meghachandra judgment. Justice Joymalya Bagchi, on the Bench, observed in a lighter vein that the judiciary itself was in breach of statutory timelines in several matters, and asked how the court could then direct the Speaker.

Mr. Sibal also pointed to the Supreme Court's findings in the 2023 Shiv Sena split case, Subhash Desai versus Principal Secretary, Governor of Maharashtra, that adjudication of disqualification petitions lies strictly within the Speaker's domain, and said the two judgments needed to be synchronised. Justice Bagchi noted that a Speaker's decision on disqualification is not the last word, since it is subject to appeal before a constitutional court, to which Mr. Sibal responded that the concern was the delay in reaching that decision at all.

The petition, filed by Sohandeb Chattopadhyay of the Mamata Banerjee faction, sought a mandamus directing the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions expeditiously. The legislators named in the petitions are Arup Roy, Ritabrata Banerjee, Firad Hakim, Sandipan Saha, Seuli Saha, Akrhruzzaman, Sabina Yeasmin, Rathin Ghosh, Biplab Mitra and Javed Ahmad Khan.

In its order disposing of the petition, the court recorded that the Speaker is fully cognisant of the principles laid down by the Supreme Court and shall make every endeavour to take an appropriate decision within that framework.