Speaker Has Issued Notices To 20 Rebel MPs On Trinamool Congress Pleas For Their Disqualification, Solicitor Tells Supreme Court

The SG was responding to a writ petition filed by Trinamool Congress General Secretary and Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee seeking an expeditious decision by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on disqualification petitions.

The Writ Petition filed under Article 32 was listed before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana.

Responding to the SG's submission, Justice Bagchi said, "It is not a question of issuing notices; it is a question of concluding the proceedings within a time frame."

While the bench was inclined to issue notices to the respondents on the writ petition, SG submitted that notices may not be issued to the Speaker and his office. SG instead said that he will appear on behalf of the Speaker. He added that he has instructions to say that the Speaker has issued notices on the disqualification petitions.

Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandhopadhyay appeared for Banerjee. The Court then proceeded to issue notice to the 20 rebel MPs.

The 20 MPs named as respondents 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 Pathan Yusuf.

The petition challenges the delay in taking a decision on the disqualification proceedings against the rebel MPs. The dispute stems from the rebellion within the TMC parliamentary party, with 20 MPs having sought to break away from the party and align themselves with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). The rebel camp has sought recognition as a separate group in the Lok Sabha.

TMC has maintained that the MPs were elected on the party's symbol and that their subsequent decision to join another political formation attracts the provisions of the anti-defection law. Abhishek Banerjee had earlier submitted separate disqualification petitions before Speaker Om Birla and sought their expeditious disposal.

The Speaker had allotted separate seating arrangements to the 20 rebel TMC MPs during the Monsoon Session.

TMC's petition names the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Secretary General as respondents, along with the 20 MPs against whom the disqualification proceedings are being pursued.

Earlier, ShivSena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) had approached the Supreme Court challenging the Lok Sabha Speaker's decision recognising the 'merger' of its MPs with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.