Following the BJP's landslide victory in the West Bengal assembly election, a section of jobless teaching staff, whose jobs were annulled by the Supreme Court order in 2025, on Tuesday said they now look forward to some appropriate steps by the new government for reinstatement of their employment.
They said they voted keeping in mind the "uncertain future" they have been facing, and expressed hope that the new administration would meet their long-pending demand for transparent and timely appointments.
In April 2025, the Supreme Court ordered the cancellation of the appointments of over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff recruited through the West Bengal School Service Commission, citing large-scale irregularities and manipulation in the 2016 recruitment process when the TMC was in power.
"Due to the unimaginable corruption and nepotism by the previous government, most of the jobless teachers are staring at an uncertain future," Mrinmoy Mondal, one of the jobless teachers, told PTI.
"We now look forward to some appropriate steps by the new government for legally reinstating the deserving teachers," said Mondal, also the spokesperson of West Bengal Untainted Teachers Association.
'Untainted', 'deserving' or 'eligible' teaching or non-teaching staff are those whose involvement in the irregularities in the case was not proved.
Mehboob Mondal of the Eligible Teachers Forum said, "Many candidates who have been demanding their jobs back can only hope for a breakthrough, but uncertainty still looms large over their future."
Mondal was among the hundreds who had launched a sit-in before the West Bengal SSC headquarters in April-May last year and spearheaded an agitation.
Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari had met the jobless teachers at their protest venue to extend support to them.
Abhishek Sen, an SSC 2016 waiting-list candidate, "We were in a dharna for 1,300 days at the foot of the Mahatma Gandhi statue (in central Kolkata). Despite being qualified, we remained on the waiting list. We voted keeping that in mind, and now it appears that the movement may not be entirely in vain."
Another candidate, Sushanta Ghosh, who has been agitating for upper primary recruitment, questioned the track record of the system.
"In the last 15 years, SSC examinations were held only twice. There have been allegations of corruption in primary recruitment as well. A notification for upper primary recruitment was issued in 2016, but that process is still incomplete," he said.
Achintya Samanta, a 2014 Primary TET-qualified candidate, recalled the prolonged protests and alleged police action against the agitators.
"During a protest, a woman police constable bit candidate Arunima Pal. Instead of taking action against her, 30 of us, including Arunima, were charged with criminal cases. We remembered all this while voting," he said.
Sajal Dutta, a teacher who lost his job following the apex court order, expressed hope that the new regime will complete the fresh recruitment process initiated by the Mamata Banerjee government with written tests and interviews in September-October.
"We, the 'qualified' candidates, lost our jobs due to corruption under this government. However, it was also under this government that a fresh recruitment process began, which is supposed to be completed by August 31. How the new government will go ahead with this job remains to be seen. If they do so, that will be in the right direction," he said.
Sarbari Mukherjee, one such teaching staff member, said, "Hope the new government will take note of our problems. We are not associated with any political party."
In its order, the Supreme Court had observed that the selection process had been "vitiated" by corruption, including tampering of OMR sheets and illegal appointments beyond the notified vacancies.
The verdict triggered widespread protests across the state, with affected candidates staging sit-ins at prominent locations in Kolkata, demanding reinstatement of "genuine" candidates and fresh, transparent recruitment.
The issue has since become a major political flashpoint in West Bengal, with opposition parties accusing the Mamata Banerjee government of institutional corruption, while the then ruling dispensation maintained that steps were being taken to rectify the process and ensure fair recruitment going forward.