The Lok Sabha Secretariat has given twenty rebel Trinamool Congress MPs seven days to respond to disqualification petitions filed by party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The legislative deadline follows Supreme Court scrutiny over delays in the anti-defection proceedings, as the lawmakers face removal after aligning with a Tripura-based political group.
Abhishek Banerjee Pushes Disqualification Petitions Forward
The procedural showdown began when Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool’s national general secretary and Lok Sabha leader, filed separate disqualification petitions against twenty parliamentarians who broke ranks. The parliamentary notices, dated August 25, invoke Rule 6 of the Members of Lok Sabha (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1985, requiring the lawmakers to submit their formal responses within a strict seven-day window.
The dispute centers on a major parliamentary fracture. Twenty Lok Sabha MPs announced they had joined or merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a Tripura-based political outfit, and subsequently sought separate recognition in the House. The rebel faction has since participated in National Democratic Alliance activities, treating their shift as a legitimate political merger under parliamentary rules.
The Trinamool leadership rejects that characterization entirely. Party officials maintain that because the lawmakers were elected on the official TMC symbol, abandoning the party to align with an external formation constitutes a voluntary resignation of membership. That conduct, according to the party’s legal stance, triggers immediate disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
Supreme Court Intervenes on Timeline Concerns
The legislative notices arrived one day after the Supreme Court agreed to hear a writ petition filed by Abhishek Banerjee, who challenged the prolonged delay by Speaker Om Birla in deciding the removal petitions. A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, alongside Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, examined the case before issuing formal notices to the twenty targeted lawmakers.
During the court proceedings, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench that he was appearing on behalf of the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Secretary General, confirming that notices had already been dispatched to the rebel group.
“It is not a question of issuing notices; it is a question of concluding the proceedings within a time frame.”
Justice Joymalya Bagchi, Supreme Court of India
Kalyan Banerjee, representing the Trinamool petitioner, hailed the judicial intervention as a major development for the party, anticipating that the judiciary would soon establish a concrete hearing schedule to resolve the leadership dispute.
Targeted Lawmakers Named in Legislative Filings
The formal communications from the Lok Sabha Secretariat name twenty specific members of Parliament whose political futures hang in the balance.
The complete list of lawmakers facing disqualification proceedings includes Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev, Sayani Ghosh, Bapi Haldar, Md Abu Taher Khan, Kalipada Saren Kherwal, Asit Kumar Mal, June Maliah, Mitali Bag, Khalilur Rahaman, Mala Roy, Sharmila Sarkar, and Yusuf Pathan.
Escalating Political Confrontation in New Delhi
Abhishek Banerjee previously met with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on August 12, following up on a written reminder sent on July 27 to demand a decision on the initial June 18 filing. With the seven-day reply window now running from the August 25 issuance date, the rebel lawmakers must defend their merger before the Speaker’s tribunal while the Supreme Court maintains supervisory oversight over the timeline.
