Assembly: 4 BJP MLAs suspended for ‘unparliamentary conduct’ amid uproar

Kolkata: The Bengal Assembly witnessed chaotic scenes on Monday leading to the suspension of four BJP MLAs— Sankar Ghosh, Manoj Oraon, Deepak Barman and Agnimitra Paul—for the remainder of the Session.

Speaker Biman Banerjee cited ‘’unparliamentary conduct” on the part of the four BJP legislators.

BJP MLA Ashok Lahiri, raised a point of order over the expunging of his statement from the official records on Friday during the discussion on the West Bengal Sales Tax (Settlement of Dispute) (Amendment) Bill 2025. State Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said that when the BJP was delivering a speech and raising certain points they should realise that it was their duty to listen to the reply. She claimed that whatever the Speaker did was right.

BJP chief whip Sankar Ghosh wanted to speak but the Speaker did not permit it, following which BJP MLAs began protesting by tearing paper and shouting slogans in an attempt to disrupt the proceedings.

Speaker Biman Banerjee urged the BJP legislators to take their seats and when they did not listen, he ordered the suspension of four legislators from the House for the ongoing Session, which will end on Tuesday. Ghosh and the three other BJP MLAs were led away from the House by Assembly security staffers.

Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, later entered the House alone, holding an object and trying to present the same to the Speaker, momentarily halting proceedings.

However, the Speaker rebuked him, saying: “You cannot stop the work of the Assembly like this.” Adhikari alleged that BJP MLA Subrata Maitra’s wristwatch was damaged and Sankar Ghosh’s spectacles were broken during the scuffle.

TMC legislators Aroop Biswas, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Firhad Hakim and Sujit Bose accused BJP members of vandalising microphones and chairs during the uproar.

The Speaker later said that 14 security staffers of the Assembly were injured as they were trying to remove the suspended MLAs from the House.

“This is regrettable. Incidents like this shouldn’t happen in a parliamentary democracy. I have requested the Assembly secretariat to look into the reports regarding injuries sustained by several staff members, as well as the damage to the glasses and watch of BJP members and the microphones. Should the allegations of damage be validated, we will deduct the costs from the salaries of the legislators,” he stated.

“He (the Speaker) is throttling the voice of the Opposition. We will bring a no confidence motion against him in the Winter Session of the Assembly,” Adhikari said.