Kolkata, February 7: The West Bengal Assembly passed a new bill on Saturday, the ‘West Bengal Panchayat (Amendment) Bill, 2026’. This legislation imposes a three-year moratorium on no-confidence motions against the three-tier Panchayat system from the date of its formation.
Originally, there were no plans to present this bill in the House. However, during the final day of the budget session, a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee was convened in the chamber of Speaker Biman Banerjee. It was decided that the bill would be introduced before the House was adjourned.
Under the provisions of this bill, no no-confidence motion can be brought against the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the district council, the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the panchayat samiti, and the head and deputy head of the gram panchayat within three years.
Previously, there was a two-and-a-half-year restriction on bringing no-confidence motions against these officials. With the implementation of the new bill, this period has been extended to three years.
Pradeep Majumdar, the Minister for Panchayat Affairs and Rural Development in West Bengal, stated that this amendment was introduced to maintain stability in the three-tier panchayat system in the state. However, the legislative wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposed the hurried introduction of the bill during the last hours of the session.
BJP MLA Arup Kumar Das alleged that rather than ensuring stability in the panchayat system, the real motive behind this amendment was to achieve political stability within the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Das remarked, “Otherwise, the bill would not have been passed in such haste, especially just months before the upcoming assembly elections in the state.”
The bill will now be sent to the office of West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose for his assent.
