West Bengal PAC poll may become first formal test of rebel Trinamool faction

The West Bengal Assembly is set to see an unprecedented contest for the chairpersonship of the Public Accounts Committee, or PAC, as rival factions of the Trinamool Congress prepare for an election amid the party's deepening split.

Assembly authorities on Tuesday notified the election process for the PAC and three other key House committees, setting up what could become the first institutional contest between the camps led by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee.

The development comes as both camps remain locked in a wider battle for control of the TMC's legislative and organisational wings, with competing claims now before political, legal and electoral forums. According to the Assembly notification, nominations for the PAC, the Committee on Public Undertakings, the Committee on Estimates and the Committee on Local Fund Accounts can be filed till June 30. Scrutiny will be held on July 1, July 2 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations, and polling, if required, will be held on July 5.

Assembly sources said only opposition legislators, comprising members of the TMC, Congress, CPI(M) and ISF, will take part in the election process for these committees. The PAC, regarded as one of the most influential oversight panels in the legislature, can have a maximum of 20 members, including its chairperson.

Committee chairpersons are traditionally chosen through nominations made by the opposition, but the split within the TMC has complicated the process this time and made a contest likely. Sources said the Ritabrata Banerjee camp, which claims the support of around 65 of the TMC's 80 MLAs, is keen to secure the PAC chairperson's post and is considering senior leader Firhad Hakim for the role.

Both factions are expected to field nominees for committee memberships. If the number of nominations is more than the available seats, voting will become inevitable, turning the exercise into a de facto test of strength between the two camps inside the Assembly. The contest has gained significance because the question of who represents the "real" TMC remains unresolved.

The political crisis began after a majority of TMC MLAs backed expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee's claim to the post of Leader of the Opposition, rejecting the party high command's nominee Sovandeb Chattopadhyay. The matter is now pending in court. The battle has since moved beyond the legislature. For the first time since the TMC was founded by Mamata Banerjee in 1998, the rebel faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee on Monday "replaced" her as the party chairperson, elected senior MLA Arup Roy to the post, and unveiled a parallel leadership structure.

Mamata Banerjee's camp has claimed it had already submitted a revised National Working Committee and office-bearers' list to the Election Commission before dissident leaders unveiled a parallel organisational structure and moved to stake their own claim before election authorities. The crisis has also spilled into Parliament, where 20 of the TMC's 28 Lok Sabha MPs broke away, merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and extended support to the BJP-led NDA. The party has also seen high-profile departures from the Rajya Sabha, including veteran leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy.

The PAC itself has a politically charged history in West Bengal. Although parliamentary convention says the chairperson's post should ordinarily go to the principal opposition party, successive governments have often faced controversy over the appointment. During the previous TMC regime, the BJP repeatedly accused the government of bypassing convention by facilitating the appointment of legislators who had crossed over to the TMC but had not resigned from their post. The BJP, then the principal opposition, had on several occasions boycotted PAC meetings under the leadership of Suvendu Adhikari.

This time, however, the contest is not between the treasury and opposition benches but within the opposition itself. With the Assembly's committee system becoming the latest arena in the struggle for control of the TMC, the July 5 election could offer the clearest indication yet of which faction holds greater support within the legislature party.

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