Kolkata/IBNS, July 9 -- Three former Rajya Sabha members of the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik-joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, with West Bengal BJP president Shamik Bhattacharya describing their induction as an "exceptional" development rather than a departure from the party's policy on admitting former TMC leaders.

The three leaders formally joined the BJP at the party's state headquarters in Kolkata's Salt Lake in the presence of Bhattacharya, who maintained that the BJP had consistently welcomed only those TMC leaders who had not been associated with corruption.

The development came a day after the Election Commission issued the notification for elections to thr...