The Lok Sabha secretariat has issued notices to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress lawmakers, asking them to respond within seven days to disqualification petitions filed by TMC floor leader Abhishek Banerjee.
The notices, issued on Tuesday, come after the Supreme Court sought a response from Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Banerjee’s plea seeking an expeditious decision on his disqualification petitions. Banerjee has argued that the 20 lawmakers joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).
“You are requested to kindly furnish your comments on the petition in terms of rule 7(3) within seven days of receipt of this letter for consideration of the Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha,” the notice said.
According to a senior functionary, a notice to an MP is the first step to determine disqualification, though the process is long-drawn.
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20 MPs had sought recognition of their merger with NCPI
In June, days after the 20 rebel MPs met Birla to seek approval for their merger with the NCPI, Banerjee filed separate petitions against them under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. Birla has not yet approved the merger, and they continue to be TMC lawmakers. Ahead of the monsoon session, he allotted separate seating for the faction.
According to the Tenth Schedule, “If any question arises as to whether a member of a House has become subject to disqualification under this Schedule, the question shall be referred for the decision of the Chairman or, as the case may be, the Speaker of such House and his decision shall be final.”
TMC Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien said: “Earlier, such applications against more than one MP were clubbed together. This is the first time individual petitions have been filed for legal purposes.”
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana made it clear that the issue before it was not merely whether notices had been issued to the MPs, but whether the disqualification proceedings would be completed.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Speaker, told the bench that there was no need to issue notice to Birla because he was appearing for him and could inform the court that notices had already been issued to the 20 MPs.
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“It is not a question of issuance of notices but completion of proceedings,” the bench told the solicitor general.
The bench said it was not inclined to issue notice to a constitutional authority without first giving the Speaker an opportunity to respond. “We are not inclined to issue notices to a constitutional authority without giving them an opportunity. But we want a response from the Speaker. For now, we will issue notices only to the other respondents,” it said.
A senior MP in the rebel camp told HT on Wednesday that they would respond to the notice and state that more than two-thirds of the TMC’s Lok Sabha MPs were with them.
The rebel MPs named in the petitions are Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Deepak Dev Adhikari, 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.
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The TMC has maintained that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that their subsequent decision to align with the NCPI attracts the anti-defection provisions of the Tenth Schedule.
The Constitution, however, allows merger only between political parties. Part 4(2) of the Tenth Schedule states: “The merger of the original political party of a member of a House shall be deemed to have taken place if, and only if, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger.”
