Lok Sabha Speaker Sends Notices to 20 Rebel TMC MPs After Supreme Court Intervention
Om Birla has given the MPs seven days to respond to disqualification petitions, while TMC leaders accuse the Speaker of acting only after the Supreme Court stepped in.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has issued notices to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs, asking them to respond within seven days to petitions seeking their disqualification under the anti defection law.
The development came to light on Wednesday, a day after the Supreme Court issued notices to the 20 MPs in a case filed by Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee. The plea seeks a direction for the Speaker to take up the disqualification petitions without further delay.
A notice issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat on August 25 forwarded Abhishek Banerjee’s petition to the MPs and sought their comments under the Members of Lok Sabha Disqualification on Ground of Defection Rules, 1985.
The MPs have been asked to submit their responses within seven days of receiving the notice for consideration by the Speaker.
Trinamool Congress leaders welcomed the move but alleged that the Speaker acted only after the Supreme Court intervened.
Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose described the notices as a major breakthrough, while stressing that they were only the beginning of the disqualification process. She said action against the 20 MPs was necessary to uphold constitutional principles.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra went further, accusing the Speaker’s office of attempting to cover up the delay. She said the party had submitted 20 disqualification petitions on June 19 but alleged that no action was taken until the Supreme Court hearing.
Moitra also pointed out that the notices were dated August 25, the same day the Supreme Court heard the matter.
The dispute arose after 20 of the TMC’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs broke away from the party following its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections in May. The group subsequently aligned itself with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and was given separate seating arrangements in the Lok Sabha. The MPs have also taken part in activities associated with the National Democratic Alliance.
The TMC maintains that the MPs effectively gave up their party membership and should therefore be disqualified under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
The rebel MPs, however, have sought protection under the merger provision of the anti defection law. The provision allows an exemption from disqualification when a political party merges with another party and at least two thirds of its legislators agree to the merger.
The Speaker has not yet made a final decision on the disqualification petitions. The notices issued this week mark the beginning of the formal adjudication process.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter again on August 28.
During Tuesday’s hearing, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant did not issue notices to Speaker Om Birla or the Lok Sabha secretary general. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that he was appearing on their behalf and that the Speaker was a constitutional authority.
The bench, which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana, observed that the Speaker’s decisions in disqualification proceedings could be subject to judicial review, as the Speaker performs the role of an appellate tribunal while deciding such matters.