Public Accounts Committee in Bengal Assembly set to be constituted unanimously

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the West Bengal Assembly is on its way to be formulated without any contest after nominations were filed on Thursday.

As per Assembly sources, a total of 20 nominations were received, matching the strength of the committee, making a formal election unnecessary unless any nomination is withdrawn or challenged.

Advertisement

The nominations, however, reflected the continuing factional divide within the Opposition Trinamool Congress. Of the six Opposition nominees, one name was proposed by the Kalighat faction, while the remaining five were backed by the Ritabrata Bandopadhyay camp.

Senior MLA Ashok Deb has been nominated by the Kalighat group. The Ritabrata camp has proposed the names of Firhad Hakim, Biplab Mitra, Golam Rabbani, Kanaiyalal Agarwal and Samar Mukhopadhyay. The remaining 14 nominees are from the ruling side.

According to Assembly sources, they include Anup Kumar Saha, Amlan Bhaduri, Bankim Chandra Ghosh, Hiranmoy Chattopadhyay, Krishnendu Mukhopadhyay, Rajesh Kumar, Roopa Ganguly, Saikat Panja, Samarendra Nath Ghosh, Sikha Chattopadhyay, Sonam Lama, Sourav Sikdar, Subrata Thakur and Swapan Kumar Das.

Political attention is now focused on the post of PAC chairman. By long-standing Parliamentary convention, the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee is allotted to the Opposition. Assembly sources indicated that Firhad Hakim is emerging as the frontrunner for the post.

The issue has acquired added political significance in view of the ongoing rivalry within the Opposition Trinamool Congress. If Hakim is chosen as chairman, it would strengthen the Ritabrata camp’s position while leaving the Kalighat faction without representation in the committee’s top post.

The chairmanship of the PAC has been the subject of controversy in West Bengal in the past. During the previous Trinamool regime, the appointment of Opposition legislators considered close to the ruling establishment, including Mukul Roy, Manas Bhunia and Suman Kanjilal, as PAC chairmen had drawn criticism from rival parties. At the time, the Opposition, led by Suvendu Adhikari, had boycotted PAC meetings, alleging that the spirit of parliamentary convention had been compromised.

With voting now unlikely, the focus has shifted from the election itself to the choice of the committee’s chairman, a decision expected to carry significant political implications within the Opposition ranks.