Justice Arindam Sinha of Calcutta High Court today set aside a no-confidence motion brought against the BJP chairman of Bhatpara Municipality by the Trinamul Congress, observing that it has been illegally convened. The no-confidence motion against Sourav Singh was passed by a margin of 19-0 in the 35-member civic body earlier in the day.

The court declared the meeting called for voting on the no-confidence motion null and void. The Bhatpara Municipality chairman had convened a meeting on 20 January for bringing the no-confidence motion. However, TMC councillors refused to wait till then and on 30 December gave a notice for holding the meeting to bring the notrust motion on 2 January .

The said notice of 30 December was challenged by three BJP councillors, claiming that councillors cannot give the notice for holding the meeting on their own as it was against the state municipal laws. Earlier during the day, Trinamul Congress moved the noconfidence motion against the BJP leader and municipality chairman, Sourav Singh, that was passed with a vote of 19-0 margin.

The BJP termed the no-confidence motion proceedings against the chairman, “illegal.” Three councillors of the Trinamul Congress had called for a meeting in the afternoon to move the no-confidence motion against the incumbent Bhatpara municipality chairman Sourav Singh, nephew of BJP MP Arjun Singh. It is learnt that a total of 19 TMC councillors were present for the meeting but there were no BJP councillors.

The Trinamul leader and vice chairman, Somnath Talukdar, today reportedly said “The no-confidence motion was moved against the chairman and we won 19-0 in the 35-member civic body. This is a victory for chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Today’s meeting was absolutely legal and was conducted as per the rules.” The state food and supplies minister, Jyotipriyo Mullick, said, “A trust vote was held on Thursday morning and we won it by a margin of 19-0. The BJP councillors didn’t vote.” However, the BJP termed the entire process as “illegal” and alleged that it was not conducted in accordance with the rules in the municipal act.

The BJP MP Arjun Singh also approached Calcutta High Court, terming the entire no confidence motion proceedings as “unconstitutional.” Trinamul leader Jyotipriyo Mullick had told the Press on 30 December 2019: “As per West Bengal Municipal Act, the chairman was supposed to call a meeting but he failed to and so did the vice chairman. This morning, three councillors have given a notification to all the members and within the next 72 hours, an inquisition meeting will be called and the counting of votes will be completed by the second or third of next month.

Trinamul will have control of the Bhatpara Municipality.” A total of 26 TMC members of the civic body had joined BJP after the Lok Sabha elections, and Sourav Singh had become its chairman after winning the trust vote in June last year. The Trinamul claimed to have regained a majority in the civic body after 12 of its 26 councillors, who had joined the BJP, rejoined Trinamul in early November, taking the TMC’s count in the 34-member municipality to 21.