New Delhi : The Lok Sabha Secretariat has issued notices to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs and sought their replies within seven days on petitions filed by TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law, sources said.
The notices, dated August 25, forwarded a copy of Banerjee’s petition dated June 18 filed against the MPs, who joined the NCPI, under Rule 6 of the Members of Lok Sabha (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1985.
The Secretariat has asked the MPs to furnish their comments on the petition within seven days of receipt of the notice, the sources said.
Supreme Court’s Intervention
The development comes a day after the Supreme Court agreed to hear Banerjee’s plea seeking an expeditious decision on the disqualification petitions.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana agreed to hear Banerjee’s plea questioning the alleged delay in deciding the disqualification proceedings.
The apex court, while issuing notice to the 20 rebel MPs, declined to issue notice to the office of the Lok Sabha Speaker and the secretary-general of the House after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said he was representing them.
During the hearing, the court observed, “It is not a question of issuing notices; it is a question of concluding the proceedings within a time frame.”
Background of the Dispute
Banerjee had earlier submitted separate disqualification petitions against the 20 MPs and subsequently sought expeditious disposal of the proceedings. He had also met the Lok Sabha Speaker on August 12 over the issue after sending a written reminder on July 27.
The dispute follows a rebellion within the TMC parliamentary party after 20 of its Lok Sabha MPs announced that they had joined or merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a Tripura-based political outfit, and sought separate recognition in the House.
The rebel MPs have subsequently been treated as an NCPI group in Parliament and have participated in NDA parliamentary activities.
The TMC has maintained that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that their decision to align with another political formation amounts to voluntarily giving up membership of the party, attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law.
The rebel camp has maintained that its move constitutes a valid merger.
MPs Named in Petition
The 20 MPs named in Banerjee’s petition are Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev and Sayani Ghosh.
Along with them were the names of Bapi Haldar, Mohammed Abu Taher Khan, Kalipada Saren Kherwal, Asit Kumar Mal, June Maliah, Mitali Bag, Khalilur Rahaman, Mala Roy, Sharmila Sarkar and Yusuf Pathan.
Some notable mentions:
* In Bihar, 36-year-old Tejashwi Yadav is the de facto leader of the RJD that was founded by his father and ex-CM Lalu Prasad.
* In Haryana, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala’s son Aditya, 27, is the state’s only Gen Z MLA, while MLA Arjun Chautala, 34, of the Indian National Lok Dal is the grandson of ex-CM O P Chautala.
* In Himachal Pradesh, Cabinet minister Vikramaditya Singh,36, is the son of ex-CM Virbhadra Singh and former state Congress chief Pratibha Singh.
* Among the BJP’s Jammu & Kashmir MLAs is Devyani Rana, 31, niece of Union minister Jitendra Singh and daughter of ex-MLA Devender Rana, who earlier represented her Nagrota seat.
* In Madhya Pradesh, former CM Digvijaya Singh’s son Jaivardhan Singh, 40, has been a Congress MLA for over a decade and served as a minister in the short-lived Kamal Nath government; Congress MLA Abhijeet Shah, 34, belongs to the erstwhile Makrai royal family with ties to both the BJP and Congress.
* In Maharashtra, the children of ex-CMs Ashok Chavan and Uddhav Thackeray — Sreejaya Chavan, 34, of the BJP and Aaditya Thackeray, 36, of the Shiv Sena (UBT) — are both MLAs. The NCP (SP)’s Rohit Patil, 27, son of ex-Deputy CM R R Patil, is the state’s only Gen Z MLA.
* In the Northeast, several former CMs’ children are sitting MLAs, including former Manipur CM Okram Ibobi’s 38-year-old son Surjakumar Okram of the Congress and the children of former Meghalaya CMs Donkupar Roy and Mukul Sangma’s. Roy’s son Balajied Kupar Synrem, 38, is a United Democratic Party MLA and Miani Shira, 36, is a TMC legislator. In Sikkim, 36-year-old Aditya Golay of the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha is the son of sitting CM Prem Singh Tamang.
* In Odisha, Congress veteran and state party chief Bhakta Charan Das’s son Sagar Charan Das, 34, is an MLA.
* In Uttar Pradesh, Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) ex-chief Brij Bhushan’s son Prateek Bhushan Singh, 38, is a BJP MLA, while the Samajwadi Party’s first family has several MLAs, including 38-year-old Tej Pratap Singh. Nishad Party founder Sanjay Nishad’s son Sarvan, 36, is an MLA, as is 34-year-old Abbas Ansari, whose father Mukhtar Ansari was a gangster-turned-politician who died while in prison.
