BJP opposes WB Legislative Council proposal; claims 'Mamata attempting backdoor entry'

Coming down heavily on the West Bengal government, BJP opined that the creation of a Legislative Council was a ploy to facilitate the backdoor entry of rejected TMC leaders. On Tuesday, 195 MLAs voted in favour of the resolution - 'Consideration of report of the ad hoc committee to examine the recommendation for creation of a Legislative Council'. Interestingly, lone ISF MLA Nawsad Siddiqui was one of the 69 members who opposed the aforesaid resolution. 

Speaking to the media, WB BJP chief Dilip Ghosh remarked, "The government has no confidence, hence they want to bring Legislative Council. She wants to bring her rejected leaders to the Vidhan Sabha. Mamata Banerjee had also lost but she is still a CM. She thinks that if the elections don't take place then she would have to resign. This is just an attempt to gain power. She is using Legislative Council as a tool to gain power back."

However, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari who defeated Banerhee from Nandigram offered a slightly different argument. He stated, "We opposed it as the Legislative Council has no legal status. Legislative Council does not exist in 23 states. The passage of bills will take more time with the creation of the Legislative Council. This is not appropriate for smart governance". At present, only Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana have a Legislative Council.

TMC pushes for early by-elections

On July 3, the TMC government urged the EC to conduct by-elections to 6 Assembly seats at the earliest. Responding to the poll body's missive on the possibility of holding elections to two vacant Rajya Sabha seats, it assured that all COVID-19 protocols will be adhered to in the process. On June 23, Mamata Banerjee had told reporters that by-elections could be held within 7 days as the novel coronavirus situation in the country is currently "under control".

She has already moved the Calcutta High Court challenging Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari's victory in Nandigram despite the fact that Bhawanipore MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay has resigned to pave way for her election. The polls were countermanded in Jangipur and Samserganj following the death of RSP's Pradip Nandi and Congress' Rezaul Haque respectively due to COVID-19. Three other seats are lying vacant as Gosaba MLA Jayanta Naskar passed away after winning the 2021 polls and the winning BJP candidates from Dinhata and Santipur chose to retain their Lok Sabha seats.