TMC wins no-confidence motion against BJP in Bhatpara

In a severe jolt to BJP, the saffron party on Tuesday lost control over the last civic body it had under its power in West Bengal as opposition TMC won the no-confidence motion it had moved against Bhatpara municipality chairman Sourav Singh. The no-confidence was passed by a margin of 19-0.

"A no-trust vote was held on Tuesday afternoon and we won it by a margin of 19-0. The BJP councillors did not take part in the proceedings. People of Bhatpara are with us," state Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick said. Reacting to the outcome, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said the party will win the election to Bhatpara municipality in North 24 Parganas whenever it is held.

Calcutta High Court had ruled on Monday that the civic body councillors will meet on Tuesday to move the no-confidence against Singh. The Bhatpara municipality has 35 wards but its effective strength is 32. Presently TMC has 19 councillors, BJP 12 and the Congress and CPI(M) has one each. There is an independent councillor too. One of the councillors passed away last year.

Bhatpara had become the first BJP-controlled municipality since Independence when 26 TMC members of the civic body joined the saffron party in 2019 and Sourav Singh became its chairman after winning the trust vote in June after the Lok Sabha polls. The Bhatpara Municipality chairman had convened a meeting on January 20 for bringing the no-confidence motion.

However, TMC councillors refused to wait till then and gave a notice on December 30 for holding the meeting on January 2. The December 30 notice was challenged by three BJP councillors, claiming that TMC councillors cannot give notice for the meeting as it was against the state municipal laws.

On January 2, a no-confidence motion was moved and was won by TMC. But the Calcutta High Court set it aside observing that it has been illegally convened. The HC on January 6 ruled that a fresh meeting of Bhatpara Municipality councillors for moving a no-confidence motion against its chairman be held on Tuesday.

It was held and TMC won it. BJP Lok Sabha member Arjun Singh was a four-time TMC legislator and the chairman of Bhatpara Municipality since 2010 till March last year.

He switched over to BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and was removed from the post of municipality chairman in April through a secret ballot after a no-confidence motion was passed against him. But after he wrested the Barrackpore parliamentary seat from his former party, Singh turned the tables on TMC and regained his hold on Bhatpara, which is known to be his bastion.

Sourav Singh, his nephew, was then elected as the new chairman of the municipality in June 2019. The BJP had taken effective control of seven municipal bodies since the Lok Sabha polls with a majority of the councillors of the civic bodies joining it.

However, in the last four months TMC has regained control of all the municipalities..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)