Supreme Court urges West Bengal Assembly Speaker to decide disqualification petitions within October 8

The Supreme Court on Monday (September 28, 2026) urged the Speaker of the West Bengal State Legislative Assembly to conclude the disqualification proceedings initiated by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress faction against rival Ritabrata Banerjee faction under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution for alleged defection by October 8, 2026.

Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Vivek Tankha and advocate Preetika Dwivedi, appearing for the Mamata Banerjee camp, said the apex court had held in the Keisham Meghachandra Singh versus Speaker, Manipur Legislative Assembly judgment that the Assembly Speaker, acting as a Tribunal under the anti-defection law of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, must decide disqualification petitions within a “reasonable time”.

The court had suggested three months to be a reasonable time unless exceptional circumstances exist.

“The three months expire on October 8. This has become a pattern. The Speaker does not deal with the disqualification petitions. The rebel MLAs go to the Election Commission (EC) and get an interim order,” Mr. Sibal submitted.

The senior counsel was referring to an interim order of the EC on September 17 freezing the TMC party symbol and name in order to “place both the rival groups on an even keel and to protect their rights and interests”.

But the Chief Justice expressed reluctance in intervening in the case, saying it would instead pass an order expressing “hope that the Speaker will follow the law laid down in the Meghachandra judgement.”

Mr. Sibal said the court must examine this “pattern” or it would create “political havoc”.

“There are statutes where the judiciary is required to complete proceedings within a time frame. We are gloriously in breach of that, so how can we tell the Speaker?” Justice Joymalya Bagchi, on the Bench, posed to Mr. Sibal in a lighter vein.

Mr. Sibal said the Supreme Court’s separate findings in the Shiv Sena split case judgment (Subhash Desai versus Principal Secretary, Governor of Maharashtra) of 2023 that the adjudication of disqualification petitions was strictly the domain of the Speaker and the

The judgment in the Keisham Meghachandra Singh case, which held that a decision on such petitions must be taken within a “reasonable time”, also needs to be “synchronised”.

“But even if the decision is taken by the Speaker on disqualification, it is not the last word,” Justice Bagchi said, referring to the point that the Speaker’s decision could be appealed in the constitutional court.

“In the meantime, if such a decision is not taken quickly… That is what I am pointing out,” Mr. Sibal said.

The petition filed by Sohandeb Chattopadhyay in Ms. Banerjee’s faction sought mandamus to the Assembly Speaker for an expeditious decision on the disqualification petitions filed on July 8, 2026 against 10 rival MLAs.

The rival MLAs, after TMC’s defeat in Assembly elections in 2026, had constituted a separate front pursuant to an alleged special session on June 27, 2026.

“The Speaker is fully cognisant of the principles laid down by the Supreme Court, and shall make all endeavour to take an appropriate decision within the framework,” the court noted in the order, disposing of the petition.

The petitions were filed against rival legislators Arup Roy, Ritabrata Banerjee, Firad Hakim, Sandipan Saha, Seuli Saha, Akrhruzzaman, Sabina Yeasmin, Rathin Ghosh, Biplab Mitra, and Javed Ahmad Khan.