SC hears Abhishek Banerjee’s plea seeking expedited decision on disqualification of 20 Rebel TMC MPs

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard plea by TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, where he sought expedition of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's decision on 20 rebel MPs' disqualification.

An SC bench consisting of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notice to the 20 rebel MPs upon Banerjee's plea.

However, the apex court declined to issue notice to the Lok Sabha Speaker and the secretary-general of the House after taking cognisance of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s submission that he was there to represent them.


Earlier, the SC halted a similar plea filed by the Shiv Sena (UBT) which challenged the Speaker’s approval of the merger of its six MPs with the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe heard that petition.

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Banerjee challenged the alleged delay in deciding the disqualification proceedings initiated against the rebel MPs.

In his plea, the TMC MP sought directions for the speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions in accordance with the anti-defection provisions of the Constitution. Earlier, he had prompted the speaker to expedite the rebel MPs' removal under a separate petition.

The TMC leader has sought directions for Birla to decide the disqualification petitions in accordance with the anti-defection provisions of the Constitution. He had earlier submitted separate petitions against the 20 MPs and subsequently urged the speaker to expedite their disposal.

Read more: Abhishek Banerjee seeks SC direction on disqualification of 20 TMC MPs

Banerjee met Birla on August 12 after sending a reminder on the issue on July 27, as per reports cited by PTI.

The dispute follows a rebellion within the TMC parliamentary party after 20 of its Lok Sabha MPs joined the NCPI, a Tripura-based political outfit and sought separate recognition in the House.

Ever since, the rebel MPs have been treated as an NCPI group in Parliament and have participated in NDA parliamentary activities.

The TMC maintained that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that their decision to align with another political formation meant that their membership was to be given up and that it attracted disqualification under the anti-defection law.

The rebel camp, however, maintained that the merger was valid.

The petition names the Lok Sabha speaker and the secretary general as respondents as well as the 20 rebel MPs against whom the disqualification proceedings have been sought.

The MPs named in the 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.