No legal provision of a 'separate group' inside Parliament: MP Sagarika Ghose amid TMC rebellion

Amid the ongoing rebellion by around 20 Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MPs within the party, TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose on Sunday asserted that there is no legal provision under the anti-defection law for a "separate group" to function inside the House while continuing to hold seats won on a party's symbol.

In a post on X, Ghose referred to Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, stating that an MP or MLA can avoid disqualification only in the case of a formal merger between political parties, and even then, only under specific conditions.

She explained that legislators would either have to join the merged party or choose not to accept the merger, but emphasised that individual or breakaway groups cannot continue to exist inside Parliament or state assemblies while retaining membership under the original party banner.


"An MP or MLA will LOSE THEIR SEAT or be DISQUALIFIED under anti-defection law UNLESS their original political party MERGES with another party; and they either: Join the new/merged party, or Refuse to join the original merger. NO LEGAL PROVISION of a 'separate group' inside Parliament or inside the assembly while sitting on an MP/ MLA seat previously won on the ORIGINAL PARTY's name and symbol. The LAW IS CLEAR. NO 'SEPARATE GROUP' inside the House on the same symbol is legal. MERGE with a new party or be DISQUALIFIED. Else your membership of the House - parliament or assembly - is ILLEGAL," the TMC MP wrote on X.

The development comes amidst the ongoing political crisis within the Trinamool Congress, where 58 MLAs under the leadership of expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee in West Bengal, and 20 MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar in the Lok Sabha have rebelled against the party. Three Rajya Sabha MPs, including Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Baraik, have also resigned from their upper house and party membership.

Meanwhile, the rebel faction of the Trinamool Congress who claim to be "real TMC", will meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday and demand a separate seating arrangement for themselves.