Bengal Assembly splits TMC: Separate seats, rooms for rival blocs
Synopsis
West Bengal's Assembly has done something rarely seen in Indian parliamentary history — formally split the seating and rooms of a single registered legislative party into two rival blocs. With 58 of TMC's rebel MLAs on the floor against just 17 loyalists, the Mamata-Abhishek faction is now a minority within its own party group, seeking floor time directly from a BJP Chief Minister.
Key Takeaways
The West Bengal Assembly has allotted separate seats and rooms to two rival blocs of the Trinamool Congress Legislative Party .
The rebel majority bloc is led by Ritabrata Banerjee ; the Mamata-loyal minority bloc is led by Sovandeb Chattopadhyay .
Of 80 TMC MLAs , 60 are officially in the rebel bloc; Ritabrata Banerjee claims the number has risen to 64 .
On the Budget session's opening day, 58 rebel MLAs attended versus 17 from the original bloc.
Minority bloc MLA Kunal Ghosh confirmed that Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has assured them independent floor time.
The West Bengal Assembly has formalised a rare internal split within the Trinamool Congress Legislative Party, with separate seating arrangements and dedicated rooms allotted to two rival blocs of the party on the opposition benches, as the Budget session commenced on Thursday, 18 June. The development underscores a deepening fracture within what is officially still a single legislative party.
Two Blocs, Two Seats, One Party
The rebel and majority bloc — led by expelled party legislator and official Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee — has been seated separately from the minority bloc that retains allegiance to Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. The minority faction is headed by Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, currently the seniormost member of the legislative house.
Separate rooms within the Assembly premises have also been allotted to each bloc, a fact confirmed by minority bloc legislator Kunal Ghosh.
Numbers on the Floor
Of the total 80 Trinamool Congress legislators currently in the West Bengal Assembly, 60 are officially aligned with the rebel bloc — though Ritabrata Banerjee claimed earlier this week that the figure had risen to 64. On the opening day of the Budget session, 58 rebel bloc legislators were present in the House, against 17 from the original Mamata-loyal bloc.
Minority Bloc Seeks Independent Time Allotment
Kunal Ghosh told reporters that legislators from the minority bloc had already approached Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shankar Ghosh for independent time allotment on the floor of the House.
'The Chief Minister and the State Parliamentary Affairs Minister have assured separate time allotment for us. Under no circumstance we will approach Ritabrata Banerjee for time allotment for us,' Kunal Ghosh said.
A Rare and Intriguing Situation
Political observers described the arrangement as both unusual and constitutionally intriguing. 'Both the blocs are officially from Trinamool Congress and the MLAs from both the blocs are officially Trinamool Congress legislatures. Yet these two blocs will perform like two separate political forces,' a Kolkata-based political observer said.
This comes amid an escalating internal power struggle within the TMC, with the rebel majority effectively operating as a counter-bloc against the party's central leadership. How the Speaker and the House rules committee navigate dual time allotments for a single registered legislative party will be closely watched in the sessions ahead.
Point of View
Bypassing its own party's Leader of the Opposition, reveals how completely the internal rebellion has inverted the normal chain of authority. The deeper question is whether the Speaker's eventual ruling on time allotment will set a precedent that accelerates the formal split — or whether the constitutional ambiguity of 'one party, two blocs' will be used to stall anti-defection proceedings indefinitely. Either way, this is a stress test for West Bengal's Assembly rules that they were not designed to handle.
NationPress
3 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Why has the West Bengal Assembly given separate seating to two TMC blocs?
The Assembly has formalised a de facto split within the Trinamool Congress Legislative Party by allotting separate seats and rooms to the rebel majority bloc and the Mamata-loyal minority bloc. The two groups are at odds over party leadership and are expected to function as distinct political forces on the floor despite sharing the same registered party name.
Who leads each of the two TMC blocs in the West Bengal Assembly?
The rebel and majority bloc is led by expelled party legislator Ritabrata Banerjee, who also holds the official designation of Leader of the Opposition. The minority bloc, loyal to Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, is led by Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, the seniormost MLA in the House.
How many MLAs does each TMC bloc have?
Of the 80 Trinamool Congress MLAs in the West Bengal Assembly, 60 are officially aligned with the rebel bloc — a figure Ritabrata Banerjee claims has risen to 64. On the Budget session's opening day, 58 rebel MLAs were present against 17 from the original Mamata-loyal bloc.
How will the minority TMC bloc get speaking time on the Assembly floor?
Minority bloc MLA Kunal Ghosh confirmed that his group has approached Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shankar Ghosh directly for time allotment, bypassing rebel bloc leader Ritabrata Banerjee entirely. Both ministers have reportedly assured them of separate time.
What makes this situation constitutionally unusual?
Both blocs are officially registered as Trinamool Congress legislators, yet they are operating as separate political entities within the House. Political observers note this is a rare scenario where a single legislative party has been formally divided in seating and administration, raising unresolved questions about anti-defection rules and Speaker rulings.
