- West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose resigned unexpectedly before Assembly elections
- Bose transferred voting rights to West Bengal six days prior to his resignation
- His resignation letter was brief and gave no reason for stepping down
Only six days ago, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose had announced that his voting rights had been transferred to the state, signalling his intent to participate in the upcoming Assembly elections. An officer on Special Duty issued a statement that Bose's EPIC number had been moved to Part 38 under the 162-Chowrangee Assembly Constituency. The statement added that the Governor was pleased to join the people of Bengal in exercising his right to vote.
However, before the elections could take place, Bose unexpectedly resigned from his post late Thursday evening.
According to sources in Raj Bhavan, the Governor had initially arrived at Kolkata airport to board an Air India Express flight to Bagdogra ahead of President Droupadi Murmu's scheduled two-day visit to Darjeeling. Instead, he reportedly took an unscheduled flight to New Delhi and submitted his resignation to the President. Sources say the resignation letter was only a single line and did not specify any reason.
Bose had served as West Bengal Governor for around three and a half years, succeeding Jagdeep Dhankhar, whose tenure had been marked by frequent clashes with the state government headed by Mamata Banerjee.
Tensions between the Raj Bhavan and the government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee surfaced early in Bose's tenure. One of the first disagreements arose in February 2023 when Raj Bhavan asked the state to replace then Principal Secretary to the Governor, Nandini Chakravorty. This came roughly a month after Bose hosted a special programme at Raj Bhavan to begin learning Bengali, the language of the state he served.
The most serious confrontation occurred in May 2024, when a Raj Bhavan staffer filed a complaint accusing the Governor of molestation while she was on duty. In response, Bose arranged a public screening of CCTV footage from Raj Bhavan, denying the allegations.
The controversy triggered a strong reaction from Banerjee, who announced she would not visit Raj Bhavan while Bose remained Governor, saying women felt unsafe there. Speaking at a Lok Sabha campaign rally in Hooghly, she said Bose should resign and explain the allegations against him. "Governor CV Ananda Bose should resign. He has tortured women. He must explain why he should not resign. The Governor released edited CCTV footage of the Raj Bhavan. I watched the entire video and its contents are shocking," alleged the Chief Minister.
Bose responded by filing a defamation suit against the Chief Minister in the Calcutta High Court, an unprecedented move in the state's political history.
Despite the strained relationship, observers of West Bengal politics had recently noticed a shift in Raj Bhavan's stance. Several long-pending bills received the Governor's approval, even the dispute over university vice-chancellor appointments, which had reached the Supreme Court was resolved after Bose endorsed the state government's nominees. He also read the state budget speech in the Assembly praising the government's achievements, prompting a walkout by the principal opposition, the BJP.
Following his sudden resignation, the ruling All India Trinamool Congress questioned the timing of the move, particularly with elections less than a month away. Mamata Banerjee expressed "shock and concern", while party leaders accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of interfering in state affairs.
Senior minister and TMC MLA Shashi Panja said the party was "deeply anguished" and questioned the Centre's motives, noting that Dhankhar had also stepped down suddenly from the post of the Vice President of the country. Speaking to NDTV, TMC Minister Shashi Panja said, "We are deeply anguished. What is the nefarious objective of the Home Minister to make the governor resign at this time, when elections are less than a month away? Does the BJP not want democracy to prevail?"
The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, dismissed the allegations. Party spokesperson Debjit Sarkar claimed Bose's decision was linked to health concerns.
