Calcutta HC sets aside TMC ‘win’ in no-trust motion

“The chairman of Bhatpara Municipality (Sourav Singh) had convened a meeting on January 20 for bringing the no-confidence motion… However, TMC councillors refused to wait till then, and on December 30 gave a notice for holding the meeting for the no-trust motion on January 2. The High Court found it improper,” the BJP’s counsel said.

The December 30 notice was challenged by three BJP councillors in the High Court, claiming that councillors cannot give a notice for the meeting, as it was against the state municipal laws.

After the High Court’s order, BJP MP Arjun Singh accused the Trinamool Congress of trying to get hold of Bhatpara civic body “forcefully”. He said, “We had moved court to prevent the TMC from forcibly getting hold of the civic body. Instead of moving the court, the TMC is taking help from police to put pressure on our party councillors… The TMC, through illegal means, tried to capture the board. The people of Bhatpara are with us.”

The TMC, meanwhile, has decided to move the division bench of the High Court against Thursday’s order of the single-judge bench of Justice Arindam Sinha. “We respect the verdict of the court but we will appeal against today’s verdict in the division bench of the Calcutta High Court,” state minister Jyotipriya Mullick, who is also TMC’s North 24 Parganas district president, said.

“We had the majority, so we won the vote…. I can confidently say that whenever a trust vote takes place, we would win it, as we have the support of the people of Bhatpara,” Mullick said.

The municipality has 35 members but its effective strength is 32.