The high court on Monday asked the Bhatpara municipality to hold a meeting at 1pm on Tuesday for moving a no-confidence motion by Trinamul against BJP chairman Saurav Singh under the supervision of the state election commission.
The BJP, however, decided to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning before the meeting.
Trinamul had got the “no-confidence” motion passed on January 2, but within hours, a single judge bench of HC set aside the entire proceedings. Three Trinamul councillors filed a petition against the January 2 judgement before a division bench of the high court.
The division bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Protik Prakash Banerjee on Monday ordered a meeting to move the no-trust motion. “Voting, if any, will be held under the supervision of the (state election) commission’s representative,” read the order.
“Those who would earn the majority in the voting over the motion would come to power in the board,” it added.
The court directed the North 24-Parganas police administration to ensure tight security for all councillors. Besides, the district magistrate has been asked to file a report on Wednesday on the no-trust motion and the meeting with all details.
While Trinamul has welcomed the verdict, BJP MP Arjun Singh, whose nephew Saurav is the Bhatpara civic chairman, said: “We will file a petition before the Supreme court at 10.30am on Tuesday challenging the verdict. We will decide on attending the vote on the motion only after getting the court’s response. If required, we will face the no-trust test.”
Trinamul’s North 24-Parganas district president Jyotipriya Mullick welcomed the court’s decision. “We are confident of an encore of the January 2 result in which we won the motion by 19-0. The tally might increase,” he said.
The municipality has 35 wards, two of which are vacant at present.
Twenty-six Trinamul councillors had joined the BJP and Saurav became the chairman after the Lok Sabha elections last year. However, a dozen councillors returned to Trinamul on December 6.
