HC to speaker: Can LoP be picked on numbers alone?
Times of India | 16 July 2026
Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday asked the speaker of the Bengal legislative assembly if the leader of opposition can be appointed purely on the basis of numerical strength and if the decision can be taken without the Election Commission recognising one faction of a party over another in case of a split.
A division bench of justices Shampa Sarkar and Ajay Kumar Gupta asked: “When a part of the party complained and left, did the speaker take that into consideration? Has the speaker taken into consideration the fact that a faction walked out and lodged a complaint?” “It’s not merely a matter of numbers,” the bench observed.
The case stems from the speaker recognising Ritabrata Banerjee as LoP over Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, the party’s official nominee for the post.
In court, Banerjee’s counsel questioned if a speaker could decide upon an LoP solely because the MLA was the appointee of a political party or would it have to consider other factors, including numerical strength.
Citing the Shiv Sena case, the counsel argued that in a democratic system, decisions cannot be based on political party appointments and other factors must also be considered. The counsel added that the Election Commission evaluates multiple factors, including numbers, when deciding on party symbols.
Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing Sobhandeb, submitted that all information had been provided to the Election Commission from the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the party. He pointed out that the Ritabrata-led faction had been granted extensions by the EC twice.