Section 213A(1A) in The West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973
(1A)[ Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) of sub-section (1), an elected member who has exercised his voting right contrary to the direction issued by the Leader, shall not be declared to be disqualified if such member claims and establishes that-(a)he and a few other members of the same Panchayat belonging to same political party have constituted a group consisting of not less than one-third of the total number of members set up by such recognised political party in that Panchayat and have already intimated such decision to the Leader mentioning that the members of such group shall no longer be abided by any direction of such Leader and that such decision have also been communicated to the prescribed authority at least three working days prior to the meeting, or(b)his original political party has merged with another political party and he and a few other members of his original political party constituting at least one-third of the total number of members in the same Panchayat belonging to such original political party,-(i)have become members of such other political party, or as the case may be, of a new political party formed by such merger and have decided to elect a new Leader for such separate party or group, or(ii)have not accepted the merger and opted to function as a separate group and wants to be treated as such other political party or a new political party or group as the case may be for the purpose of all provisions of this section, and the members involved have already communicated their collective decision in writing to the Leader and to the prescribed authority under the signatures of all such members at least three days before the commencement of the meeting.]
