The President of India has renominated Swapan Dasgupta to the Rajya Sabha to fill the seat that had fallen vacant by reason of his resignation, a government notification said on Tuesday, 1 June.
Dasgupta had resigned from his Rajya Sabha seat to contest the West Bengal Assembly election as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Hooghly’s Tarakeshwar constituency but lost the polls.
He had tendered his resignation from his post days after he joined the party ahead of the Assembly elections, after a row over the constitutionality of him being fielded by the BJP for the polls.
According to the Constitution, a member nominated to the House by the President is allowed to join a political party if he/she does so within the first six months of taking seat in the House.
The Row Over Dasgupta
Trinamool Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra had in March pointed out Dasgupta must be disqualified from the Upper House for joining the BJP, under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India.
At that time, Dasgupta was nominated by the president to the Upper House in April 2016 and was a nominated member without an affiliation to any party.
Following Moitra’s tweet, the Congress had sought clarification from Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu about Dasgupta.
According to Hindustan Times, Congress chief whip Jairam Ramesh had pointed out in a letter that Dasgupta had neither resigned from the House before contesting election nor had he joined any party.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times.)
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