Nearly half of the Trinamool Congress’s elected members at the Malda zilla parishad on Monday submitted a motion to the subdivisional commissioner, expressing no confidence in the sabhadhipati and the sahakari sabhadhipati.

The rebel faction has claimed the support of a majority of the 43 elected members of the zilla parishad.

In 2023, Trinamool formed the board at the zilla parishad after winning 34 seats. The Congress secured five seats, while the BJP won four. Lipika Burman Ghosh was elected as sabhadhipati, and A.T.M. Rafikul Hossain took charge as the deputy head.

In the recent Assembly elections, Ghosh had contested from the Malda Assembly seat, but lost by a margin of over 50,000 votes.

Samsul Haque, a senior zilla parishad member of Trinamool, said: “We have submitted a no-confidence motion against the sabhadhipati and sahakari sabhadhipati as they have lost our confidence. They have been running the board in an undemocratic
manner.”

Haque further claimed that while 17 Trinamool members had already signed the motion, some others extended informal support.

“Another six to seven members have confirmed support over the phone. We expect backing from members of other parties as well. The top office-bearers of the zilla parishad will have to step down,” he added.

Prativa Singh, another Trinamool member in the rural body who is also the block Trinamool president of Englishbazar, also accused the leadership of unilateral decision-making.

“The sabhadhipati and sahakari sabhadhipati run the zilla parishad at their own will without consulting members. We are not ready to work with them anymore. They must resign or face defeat through the no-confidence motion,” she said.

Attempts to contact Ghosh for her response were unsuccessful as her phone remained off. Rafikul Hossain dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.

“If there were grievances, they should have been raised earlier. This is an opportunistic move. We have heard that some of these members are in touch with Congress,” Hossain said.

Tarashankar Roy, a BJP member in the zilla parishad, said: “This is an internal factional fight within Trinamool. We will decide our course of action after consulting our district leadership.”