TMC rebel MPs face Supreme Court notice; why was Om Birla spared?
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs over a plea by TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee seeking an early decision on their disqualification petitions. However, the court did not issue notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla or the House Secretary-General.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana agreed to hear Banerjee's plea, which challenges the alleged delay in deciding the disqualification proceedings against the MPs.
The court declined to issue notice to the Speaker's office and the Lok Sabha secretary-general after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that he was appearing for them.
Why are the 20 TMC MPs facing disqualification proceedings?
The dispute stems from a rebellion within the TMC parliamentary party. Twenty Lok Sabha MPs elected on TMC tickets announced that they had joined or merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a Tripura-based political outfit, and sought separate recognition in Parliament.
The rebel MPs have since been treated as an NCPI group in Parliament and have participated in NDA parliamentary activities.
The TMC has argued that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that their decision to align with another political formation amounts to voluntarily giving up membership of the party. The party says this attracts disqualification under the anti-defection provisions of the Constitution.
The rebel camp, however, has maintained that the move is a valid merger.
Abhishek Banerjee seeks early decision
Banerjee had earlier submitted separate disqualification petitions against the 20 MPs and later urged the Lok Sabha Speaker to expedite their disposal.
According to reports, the TMC leader met Birla on August 12 over the issue after sending a written reminder on July 27.
His Supreme Court plea seeks directions for the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions in accordance with the constitutional anti-defection provisions.
Supreme Court already hearing another merger dispute
The Supreme Court is also hearing a similar dispute involving the Shiv Sena (UBT).
A separate bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe is hearing a petition filed by Shiv Sena (UBT) challenging the Speaker's approval of the merger of its six MPs with the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The latest proceedings involving the TMC rebels could therefore add another closely watched anti-defection dispute before the Supreme Court.
The 20 MPs named in Banerjee's petition are 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.
With agency inputs