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The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order of the Calcutta High Court which had disqualified West Bengal MLA Mukul Roy from membership of the State Legislative Assembly following his defection to the Trinamool Congress from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was of the view that the electronic evidence against Roy, indicating that he had switched parties, had to be tested, and the same cannot be assumed on the principle of 'preponderance of probability'. "Electronic evidence has to be tested," the bench noted. The apex court also issued notice to the West Bengal Speaker, the Secretary and the Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari seeking a response to Roy's plea. The Calcutta HC had earlier ordered the disqualification of Roy as an MLA by reasoning that the leader's defection had been established and he had also not denied the allegations (of defection) against him. The HC had also noted that Suvendu Adhikari (LoP in WB Assembly), the complainant alleging defection by Roy, had established in the pleadings before the Speaker that Roy participated in a press conference of the Trinamool Congress party. The HC had also criticised the WB Speaker's partisan handling of the case. Mukul Roy, who was elected as a BJP MLA in May 2021, allegedly joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in August 2021 after the assembly elections, in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. During the hearing on Friday in the apex court, Advocate Prateeka Dwivedi, appearing on behalf of petitioner Shubhranshu Roy (son of Mukul Roy), submitted that the Speaker had rejected the disqualification petitions as the social media posts relied upon to prove defection were not authenticated under Section 65B of the Evidence Act. She added that the High Court reversed this finding by holding that strict compliance with Section 65B was unnecessary in proceedings under the Tenth Schedule. Senior Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, appearing for Suvendu Adhikari and Ambika Roy, contended that Mukul Roy had contested elections on a BJP ticket and later openly joined another party, Trinamool Congress, clearly attracting disqualification for defection. The apex court, however, granted interim relief to Roy and stayed the High Court's order disqualifying him as an MLA. (ANI)
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