Somnath Chatterjee (25 July 1929 – 13 August 2018) was an Indian politician who was associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for most of his life, though he had been a non affiliated independent during his last decade.

[1] His father, Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, was a prominent lawyer, intellectual, and Hindu revivalist and nationalist around the time of India's independence, and his mother, Binapani Debi[2] ran the home.

He was called to the bar from the Middle Temple in London and took up legal practice as an advocate at the Calcutta High Court before entering active politics.

[10] Ignoring the party's instructions, he decided to stay on in his post as Speaker of the House, acting in this capacity during the confidence vote.

He was broadly respected in his constituency; the CPI(M)'s 2009 candidate, Ramchandra Dom, expressed admiration for Chatterjee and vowed to continue his work, while the Congress candidate, Asit Mal, said that the people of Bolpur were "hurt at the way [Chatterjee] was driven out of the CPI-M" and that their feelings would "be reflected in the results".

In 2005, he was caught in a controversy over his statement on the Supreme Court orders related to the vote of confidence in the Jharkhand Assembly.

[17] The Opposition demanded his resignation because he held an office of profit as Chairman of Santiniketan Sriniketan Development Authority (SSDA).

When in 2004, as speaker, he moved into the official residence at 20 Akbar Road, he discontinued the practice of paying for toiletries and tea from the national exchequer.

The expulsion from CPI (M) in 2008 and his daughter Anuradha's death in late 2017 nearly shattered the once asserting Speaker, Lok Sabha.