New Delhi: Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee said on Wednesday that he met Speaker Om Birla in the morning and sought an early decision on the party’s pending disqualification petitions against 20 rebel MPs, warning that he would approach the Supreme Court if the speaker fails to act within the period required by law and judicial directions.
Banerjee said he first raised the issue with Birla in June, when the individual disqualification petitions were filed against the MPs, but nearly two months have passed without any satisfactory response.
“I had already raised this issue with the speaker in June, when individual disqualification petitions were moved against each of them. Nearly two months have passed since then, but I have still not received any satisfactory response. Even today, I have been given essentially the same answer, while the petitions remain pending,” he told reporters outside Parliament.
Banerjee said he is relying on the Supreme Court’s directions regarding timely disposal of disqualification petitions by the speaker.
“If the speaker does not decide on these petitions within the period required by law and applicable judicial directions, I will be compelled to approach the Supreme Court and seek its intervention,” he said.
Banerjee said he and other TMC MPs have repeatedly taken up the matter with Birla.
“When the House began, around July 23 or July 24, I raised this issue with the speaker. I was asked to submit a specific letter, which was duly submitted by July 26. I, along with Saugata Roy, Kirti Azad and Pratima Mandal, went to follow up on the matter. Despite that, no action has been taken so far,” he said.
Banerjee said he again met the speaker along with Roy and other TMC leaders and raised the pending disqualification issue.
He said the 20 MPs were elected on the TMC’s “twin-flower” symbol and had contested the Lok Sabha polls with the image of former West Bengal chief minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee.
“I want to make it clear that these MPs were elected on the Trinamool Congress’s twin-flower symbol and fought the election with Mamata Banerjee’s image before the electorate. Now, they have come to Parliament and are openly saying that they support the NDA,” he said.
“In such circumstances, I believe the provisions of the 10th Schedule (of the Constitution) must be examined and the question of their disqualification cannot simply be ignored,” he added.
The 10th Schedule of the Constitution contains provisions for the disqualification of MPs, MLAs and MLCs on the grounds of political defection.
The TMC had, on June 19, submitted 20 separate petitions to the speaker, seeking disqualification of the MPs after they announced that they had joined the Nationalist Citizens’ Party of India (NCPI).
The party has contended that the MPs voluntarily gave up their TMC membership by joining another political formation and that their claim of a merger is not protected under the anti-defection law.
In a separate issue raised with the speaker, Banerjee also questioned the treatment of the rebel MPs as a separate group, without formal recognition.
“I am also questioning why these MPs have neither been officially recognised as a separate group nor treated accordingly. If they are to be recognised as the NCPI, that decision should be made. But recognition cannot be withheld while, at the same time, their speaking time is being deducted from our allotted time. When they speak in the House, their names continue to appear under the All India Trinamool Congress,” he said.
Banerjee had last met Birla on July 27 and submitted two letters, seeking expeditious disposal of the 20 disqualification petitions and a reversal of the changes made to the division and seat numbers of TMC MPs in the Lok Sabha.
The petitions, filed under the 10th Schedule and the Members of Lok Sabha (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1985, had at that time remained pending for more than five weeks, without notices being issued or hearings scheduled.
The TMC had also objected to the Lok Sabha Secretariat’s July 18 circular changing the division and seat numbers of its 28 MPs, while another circular issued on the same day continued to recognise the TMC as a single parliamentary party of 28 MPs, with Banerjee as its leader.
Ahead of the Monsoon session, the rebel MPs had met Birla and discussed separate seating arrangements, recognition of the NCPI parliamentary group and the designation of Sudip Bandyopadhyay as its floor leader and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar as the chief whip. The NCPI was subsequently invited separately to an all-party meeting on July 19, prompting a walkout by opposition parties.
