SC asks West Bengal Speaker to decide disqualification pleas against 10 rebel TMC MLAs within fixed timeframe

The Supreme Court on Monday said it was confident that the West Bengal Assembly Speaker, Rathindra Bose, was cognisant of the three-month timeframe for deciding disqualification petitions and would endeavour to decide the pleas against 10 rebel Trinamool Congress MLAs within the fixed period.

The observation came on a petition seeking expeditious action on disqualification proceedings against the legislators, who are part of the rebel TMC camp led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee.

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The 10 MLAs facing the proceedings are Ritabrata Banerjee, Arup Roy, Firhad Hakim, Sandipan Saha, Akhruzzaman Ansari, Shiuli Saha, Sabina Yasmin, Biplab Mitra, Javed Khan and Rathin Ghosh. The Assembly Secretariat had issued notices to them earlier this month, seeking their replies to the disqualification petition.

The disqualification proceedings are part of the larger power struggle that has engulfed the TMC's legislative wing following its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections.

The dispute intensified after the poll loss when a large group of TMC MLAs rallied behind Ritabrata Banerjee, who was subsequently recognised by Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose as the Leader of the Opposition. The Mamata Banerjee-led faction had nominated senior MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay for the post and challenged the Speaker's decision before the Calcutta High Court. The high court, however, declined to grant interim relief against Ritabrata's appointment.

The court has reiterated the importance of timely decisions in defection matters, given that prolonged proceedings can allow a member facing disqualification to continue as an MLA despite the pending question over their membership.

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The Bengal case is unfolding alongside a parallel dispute in Parliament, where the TMC has sought the disqualification of 20 rebel Lok Sabha MPs who have broken away from the party. The Supreme Court recently pressed Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to deal expeditiously with those petitions, citing the same three-month principle from its earlier ruling.

The developments in the Assembly and Lok Sabha form part of a wider split in the TMC after the Bengal election, with rival factions also contesting the party's name and election symbol before the Election Commission.