West Bengal: Three ex-TMC MPs elected to Rajya Sabha as BJP nominees

Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik were on Friday, 17 July elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal as BJP candidates, completing a swift political turnaround days after switching sides.

The three leaders were declared elected after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations expired on Friday, with no other candidates remaining in the fray following scrutiny of nomination papers on 15 July. The returning officer formally declared them elected and handed over their certificates of election. With this, the BJP's strength in the Rajya Sabha has risen to 111 — 12 short of the halfway mark of 123 which means absolute majority in the 245-member House.

Roy, Dev and Chik Baraik joined the BJP in Kolkata on 9 July, just hours before the party's central election committee announced them as its candidates for the 24 July Rajya Sabha bypolls.

The bypolls were necessitated after the trio resigned from both the Rajya Sabha and the TMC last month following the party's defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections, creating three vacancies in the Upper House.

The defections have proved politically contentious for the BJP in West Bengal. After sweeping to power in the Assembly elections, senior state BJP leaders, led by state president Samik Bhattacharya, repeatedly declared that the party would no longer induct leaders from the TMC, arguing that earlier entrants had damaged the organisation's image and internal discipline.

The decision to induct Roy, Dev and Chik Baraik — and elevate them to the Rajya Sabha within hours of their joining the party — has therefore triggered criticism from both political opponents and sections within the BJP, with detractors accusing the party of abandoning its much-publicised 'no TMC' policy for political expediency.

The BJP has defended the move by arguing that the three leaders enjoy personal credibility and are not tainted by allegations of corruption, distinguishing them from several earlier defectors. Their induction also marks the party's first high-profile inclusion of TMC leaders since forming its maiden government in West Bengal.

Roy, who had represented the TMC in the Rajya Sabha since 2012, was widely regarded as one of the party's principal legal and parliamentary strategists. His differences with the leadership came into the open following the R.G. Kar rape and murder case, when he publicly sought accountability from his own party, drawing criticism from within the TMC.

Though he later withdrew some of his social media posts, citing threats to his family's safety, the episode further widened his rift with the party leadership, according to sources.

Dev, a former Congress Lok Sabha MP from Assam and former president of the All India Mahila Congress, joined the TMC in 2021. Before switching to the BJP, she had also criticised the Trinamool leadership over alleged corruption.

Chik Baraik, who had entered the Rajya Sabha on a TMC ticket, also resigned from both the Upper House and the party last month before crossing over to the BJP.

With PTI inputs