TMC seeks disqualification of 20 rebel MPs for joining obscure party

Seeking strong action against its 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 lesser-known political party.

TMC general secretary and its Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee placed the demand before Birla by submitting 20 separate petitions against the 20 rebels seeking their disqualification after the breakaway faction sought recognition as a separate block in the Lower House and announced their plans to merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a registered unrecognised political party headquartered in Howrah in West Bengal.

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Banerjee was called by the Speaker after the 20 TMC rebel MPs met him and conveyed their decision of forming a separate block.

Altogether, 29 MPs got elected to the Lok Sabha on TMC tickets in the 2024 general elections. One MP passed away sometime ago and the seat remains vacant.

In a show of strength, Banerjee came to meet the Speaker accompanied by three Lok Sabha members -- Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee and Mahua Moitra and Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien.

Talking to the media after the meeting, Abhishek Banerjee said the rebel MPs, who have claimed to join the NCPI, should be disqualified from the membership of the House on the ground of leaving the party.

He also said their claims of 'merger' are not valid, and according to law, two-thirds of the entire party must merge with another party, not just individual legislators.

"Twenty people met the speaker and claimed they should be treated as a separate group. Later, we got to know those MPs claimed to have joined another party, NCPI; nobody has heard the name of this group. Even they had not 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 gives up membership of a party, he or she is disqualified as an MP.

"So if (they) have been elected on a symbol and (are) claiming after two years that they are joining a new party, their membership should go," he said.

Banerjee also said that the rule on two-thirds of the members merging with another party applies to the whole party, and not just the legislative party.

"Based on that, I, as the leader of Lok Sabha of TMC, have submitted 20 different disqualification petitions against those MPs," he said.

"If you have left your membership of the party, which many of you have spoken of, and this merger is invalid, both are enough to disqualify you from the membership of the House," he said.

Banerjee added that they also presented several court judgments related to the Tenth Schedule to the speaker.

"They are asking for separate sitting arrangement, electing a Lok Sabha leader, chief whip... This is not possible. You will first be disqualified," he said.

"If they have any integrity left, they should leave their posts."

Lashing out at the MPs who switched sides, Banerjee said, "They sold their self-respect."

"Someone has to escape ED, CBI... Some are getting money, or being threatened..." he said adding that he has "concrete proof," and those who have objections with the claims can approach a court.

"They are joining hands with the BJP because they can't fight; there is no space for such people in Bengal politics."

"In the last seven days, I have received five summons... There have been two raids at my house, two raids at Mamata ji's house. They took Mamata ji's security. We don't want it either. What can one expect from the government that unleashed bulldozers on the poor,"

Asked if he would also approach the court over the issue, he said that decision would be taken in due course of time.

"We have left it to the judgment and wisdom of the speaker. He has said he will listen to the other side again and call us once more. I hope the speaker of Lok Sabha will work as per the Constitution and not choke democracy,"

The move comes after Birla invited the TMC Lok Sabha leader to present his views on the issue before a decision was made on a demand by 20 rebel TMC MPs to recognise them as a separate group following their merger with the NCPI.

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Banerjee also wrote to the speaker last week, urging him not to accord any recognition, status or facility to any group claiming to be a separate faction of the All India Trinamool Congress, contending that the Constitution and the anti-defection law do not permit the formation of a separate group within an existing political party.

If the speaker accepts the TMC rebels' plea, the NCPI will become the second-largest NDA constituent in the Lok Sabha, ahead of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) that has 16 MPs and the Janata Dal (United), which has 12.

The BJP on its own has 239 members, excluding the speaker.

The NCPI was registered as a political party in January 2023, with its address listed in the Election Commission's (EC) records as a building in Sankrail in Howrah.

Former Lok Sabha secretary general and constitutional expert P D T Achary cited paragraph 4 of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution to underline that only a political party is allowed to merge with another party and just MPs or MLAs cannot merge.

Paragraph 4 of the 10th Schedule deals with the exception to disqualification in case of a merger.

It says a member of a House will not be disqualified if the original political party to which he belonged merges with another political party and not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned agree to such a merger.

Achary told PTI that if the leadership of a political party decides to merge with another political party, its MLAs and MPs have to agree on the merger, "but the MPs or MLAs alone cannot merge with another political party. This is the constitutional provision".

An EC official said the NCPI will have to "report" the new developments to the poll authority in due course and that there is "no tearing hurry" to inform the poll body.

A former EC official, who dealt with political parties in the poll panel, termed the TMC rebels' plan to merge with the NCPI an "innovation" that has no mention in either the anti-defection law or the Representation of the People Act.