Seeking strong action against the rebels, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress on Friday urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to disqualify 20 of its MPs for revolting against the party and trying to “merge” with a less popular political party.
TMC Secretary General and Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee put the demand before Birla by filing 20 separate petitions against 20 rebels seeking disqualification after the breakaway faction sought recognition as a separate bloc in the House and announced their plans to merge with the National Citizens Party of India (NCPI), an unrecognized registered political party based in Howrah in West Bengal.
Banerjee was summoned by the Speaker after 20 rebel TMC MPs met him and informed him of their decision to form a separate bloc.
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In all, 29 MPs were elected to the Lok Sabha on TMC tickets in the 2024 general elections. One of the MPs died some time ago and his seat remains vacant.
In a show of strength, Banerjee came to meet the Speaker accompanied by three Lok Sabha members – Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Mahua Moitra and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Abhishek Banerjee said that the rebel MPs, who claimed to join the BSP, should be disqualified from the House membership on the grounds of leaving the party.
He also said that their claims of “merger” are not true, and according to the law, two-thirds of the entire party must merge with another party, not just individual legislators.
“Twenty people met the Speaker and claimed that they should be treated as a separate group. Later, we came to know about these MPs who claimed that they had joined another party, the NCR, and no one had heard the name of this group. They had not even heard the name of this party,” Banerjee said, flanked by Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Moitra and O’Brien.
He said the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution is clear: If a member voluntarily renounces membership of a party, he loses his eligibility as an MP.
“So if they are elected on the basis of a symbol and after two years they claim that they are joining a new party, their membership should go,” he said.
Banerjee also said that the rule of two-thirds members merging with another party applies to the entire party, not just the legislative party.
“Accordingly, I, as Lok Sabha leader of the TMC, filed 20 different petitions to disqualify these MPs,” he said.
He said: “If you leave your membership in the party, which many of you talked about, and this merger is invalid, both are sufficient to deprive you of membership in the Council.”
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Banerjee added that they also submitted several court rulings related to the Tenth Schedule to the Speaker.
“They are demanding separate sitting arrangements, election of Lok Sabha leader, chief whip… This is not possible. You will be excluded first,” he said.
He added: “If they have any integrity left, they should leave their positions.”
“They have sold their self-respect,” Banerjee said, criticizing the MPs who changed sides.
“Someone has to escape from the emergency department and the central office… Some get money, or are threatened…,” he said, adding that he had “concrete proof” and those who had objections to the allegations could go to court.
“They are joining hands with the BJP because they cannot fight, and there is no place for such people in Bengali politics,” he said.
“In the last seven days, I have received five summons… There were two raids at my house, two raids at Mamata ji’s house. They have taken away Mamata ji’s security. We don’t want that either. What can one expect from a government that has unleashed bulldozers on the poor,” he said.
Asked whether he would also go to court over this issue, he said the decision would be made at the appropriate time.
“We have left it to the judgment and wisdom of the Speaker. He said he will listen to the other side again and call us again. I hope the Lok Sabha Speaker will work according to the Constitution and not stifle democracy,” he said.
The move comes after Birla called on the TMC Lok Sabha leader to submit his views on the issue before taking a decision on the request of 20 rebel TMC MPs to be recognized as a separate group after their merger with NCPI.
Banerjee also wrote to the Speaker last week, urging him not to grant any recognition, status or facilities to any group claiming to be a separate faction of the All India Trinamool Congress, arguing that the Constitution and the anti-defection law do not allow the formation of a separate group within an existing political party.
If the Speaker accepts the TMC rebels’ call, the CPM will become the second largest NDA constituency in the Lok Sabha, ahead of the Telugu Desam Party, which has 16 MPs, and the Janata Dal (United), which has 12 MPs.
The BJP has 239 members, excluding the Speaker.
NCPI was registered as a political party in January 2023, with its address listed in Election Commission (EC) records as Building in Sankrail in Howrah.
Former Lok Sabha general secretary and constitutional expert PDT Achary cited Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution to assert that only a political party is allowed to merge with another party and only Members of Parliament or MLAs can merge.
Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule deals with the exception to disqualification in the event of merger.
It says that a member of the House of Representatives will not be disqualified if his or her original political party merges with another political party and at least two-thirds of the members of the legislative party concerned approve of such merger.
If the leadership of a political party decides to merge with another political party, the MLAs and MPs must agree on the merger, “But MPs or MPs alone cannot merge with another political party. This is the constitutional provision,” Achari told PTI.
An EC official said the National Commission of Electors would have to “inform” the polling authority of new developments in a timely manner, and that there was “no rush” to inform the polling authority.
A former European Commission official, who dealt with political parties in the poll, described the TMC rebels’ plan to merge with the Indonesian National Assembly as an “innovation” that had no mention in the Anti-Defection Law or the Representation of the People Law.
