The Bengal Assembly is likely to discuss a no-confidence motion against Speaker Biman Banerjee next month. The motion has been notified by BJP MLAs, including the leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari who has repeatedly accused the Speaker of running the House in a partisan manner.

A bulletin issued by the Assembly on Friday listed the matter on March 6 “on the questions of granting leave of the House to move the Resolution”. This means that the resolution will be placed before the MLAs and will be discussed in the House if it receives the required support.

According to the law, the no-confidence motion will need the support of 10 per cent of the MLAs to be admitted for discussion. The Assembly has a total strength of 294 seats and the BJP’s tally is close to 70.

“It is likely that 30 BJP lawmakers will support the motion. In that case, the Speaker is likely to allow a discussion on the motion on March 13,” a source close to Banerjee said. On February 13, the BJP’s legislative party submitted a proposal to bring the no-trust motion against the Speaker for expunging sections of Adhikari’s speech.

However, expunging Adhikari’s speech was not the immediate provocation to move the motion against Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition had hinted at the move in November last year. For such a motion to be listed, the House has to be in session for 14 days from the day the notice for no-confidence is recorded with the Assembly’s secretary.

On earlier occasions— between 2016 and 2021 when Abdul Mannan of the Congress was the leader of the Opposition, two similar notices had been declared invalid since the House was discontinued after the notification.

A third notice brought by Mannan was listed for the business. It received the support of 30 Opposition MLAs and was admitted by the House. However, it couldn’t be discussed since the House was discontinued before the stipulated time.

According to the law, a discussion on the motion is to be initiated within 10 days of its admission. “Every time we would bring a no-confidence motion the Speaker rejected it by hook or by crook. He will not allow any discussion on it. It is strange that there will be a discussion on the motion brought by the BJP MLAs,” Mannan told The Telegraph.

BJP’s chief whip ManojTigga admitted that the matter had been listed on March 6, but refused to comment on it. Phone calls to Adhikari remained unanswered.