&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'Let them impose President's Rule': Mamata Banerjee refuses to resign again even as post-poll violence engulfs West Bengal")
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has refused to step down from the post of Chief Minister once again despite losing the recently held West Bengal Assembly Elections with her party Trinamool Congress (TMC) calling it a “symbolic protest." Mamata Banerjee has dared the BJP to impose President's Rule in the state or dismiss her, declaring that she won't resign on her own. She made the remarks in a party meeting after electoral defeat of TMC. Leaders who attended the meeting said that Banerjee indicated that the party would move the Supreme Court over alleged irregularities during counting.
What Mamata said?
“Let them impose President's Rule if they want. Let them dismiss me if they want. Let it remain on record as a black day,” she said at a closed-door meeting with newly elected MLAs and senior leaders at her Kalighat residence on Wednesday (May 6), as per news agency PTI. Addressing the press on May 5, the TMC chief said, “I will not resign, I did not lose, I will not go to Raj Bhavan...The question doesn’t arise. No. Now, I also want to say that we didn’t lose the election. It is their attempt to defeat us. Officially, through the Election Commission, they can defeat us, but morally, we won the election." She called the Chief Election Commissioner “the villain of this election” and raising doubts over electronic voting machines. TMC leader and Beliaghata MLA Kunal Ghosh called it a democratic form of dissent. “Mamata didi not tendering her resignation is a protest language. It is symbolic. This is a protest against the way the Election Commission allegedly manipulated the results in more than 100 constituencies during counting,” he said.
Can a CM refuse to resign after losing?
Under India’s Constitution, the continuation of a Chief Minister is guided by convention rather than a step-by-step legal rulebook. The core principle is political legitimacy after the polls. A Chief Minister must enjoy the confidence of the State Legislative Assembly. Once election results show that the incumbent no longer has majority support, constitutional convention requires the Chief Minister to resign and submit the Council of Ministers’ resignation to the Governor.
If a Chief Minister does not resign voluntarily, the Governor is empowered to intervene. Under Article 164(1), ministers hold office “during the pleasure of the Governor,” which allows action if majority support is lost. In such a scenario, the Governor can invite the leader of the majority party or coalition to form the government, or ask a claimant to prove their majority through a floor test in the Assembly.
