4 min readNew DelhiMay 5, 2026 07:11 AM IST
In defeat of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in the West Bengal Assembly elections, the Opposition lost a state that gave it formidable voices and outspoken critics of the ruling BJP in Parliament and outside. Over the years since the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, despite being a party with votes in just one state, the TMC emerged as a weighty constituent in the Opposition ranks and had led it on several key issues inside and outside Parliament.
With the loss in Bengal, the number of TMC members in the Rajya Sabha are expected to gradually decline.
The party’s members’ fiery and scathing speeches in Parliament not just gathered eyeballs but also became something that the BJP took note of.
The TMC led the Opposition INDIA bloc to go after Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and it worked in tandem with the Congress and other Opposition parties, submitting two notices to impeach Kumar in the run up to the West Bengal elections.
After the notice for impeaching Kumar was rejected by both Houses of Parliament on April 8, the TMC once again convinced the Opposition to submit another notice to remove Kumar in the Rajya Sabha on April 24. TMC leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien coordinated with the bloc constituents on both occasions on notices to remove Kumar.
The Opposition fight against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls – since it began in Bihar – was also led by the TMC inside and outside Parliament. The party has been vocal against the government and the ECI, claiming that the SIR was “being misused to help the BJP”. When the SIR was first undertaken in Bihar, Mamata Banerjee was the first to raise an alarm, calling it NRC through backdoors and the same was parroted by the party MPs in and outside Parliament.
The party went on to meet the CEC on the issue of deletion of voters and Mamata personally argued the case in the Supreme Court, thus becoming the first CM to appear in the top court as a petitioner.
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During the special sitting of the extended Budget Session when the NDA government brought Bills to amend the Constitution and pave the way for women’s reservation and delimitation in Parliament, TMC’s was the strongest pitch, arguing that it already has the highest share of women members — 11 women among its 29 MPs in Lok Sabha (38%) and six out of 13 in Rajya Sabha (45%) — in both Houses of Parliament, while hitting out the BJP for trying to portray itself as the “champions” of the women’s cause.
The glimpses of TMC leaders’ “street fighter” image have been visible during demonstrations in the Parliament complex. When the government passed the G RAM G Act, which replaced MGNREGA, the party held an overnight protest on the stairs of the Samvidhan Sadan (Parliament House).
Over the years, the TMC has had some of the best speakers in both Houses of Parliament. With speakers like Mahua Moitra, Abhishek Banerjee, Saayoni Ghosh, Kalyan Banerjee, Derek O ’Brien, the party always got eyeballs during important debates and discussions in Parliament. The party may have fewer numbers in Parliament than some other Opposition parties, Congress and the Samajwadi Party, its MPs always left a mark during discussions.
