'You will first be disqualified': TMC takes rebel MPs battle to speaker

Seeking strong action against its rebels, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to disqualify 20 of its MPs for revolting against the party and attempting to merge with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).

The TMC won 29 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general election. One MP has since passed away and the seat remains vacant.

TMC general-secretary and Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee met Birla and submitted 20 separate petitions seeking the disqualification of the rebel MPs. The move came after the breakaway faction sought recognition as a separate group in the Lok Sabha and announced plans to merge with the NCPI, a registered but unrecognised political party headquartered in Howrah, West Bengal.

Banerjee was invited by the speaker after the 20 rebel MPs met Birla and conveyed their decision to form a separate bloc. In a show of strength, Banerjee was accompanied by Lok Sabha MPs Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee and Mahua Moitra, as well as Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Banerjee argued that the rebel MPs had effectively given up their membership of the TMC by claiming to have joined the NCPI and should therefore be disqualified under the anti-defection law. He also contended that the rebels' claim of a merger was legally untenable, arguing that the law requires two-thirds of the entire political party to merge with another party, not merely a section of its 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.

Referring to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, he said any member who voluntarily gives up membership of a political party attracts disqualification. "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 maintained that the two-thirds provision applies to the merger of a political party as a whole and not merely its legislative wing. "Based on that, I, as the leader of the TMC in the Lok Sabha, 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 the TMC had also submitted several court judgments relating to the Tenth Schedule to support its case. "They are asking for separate seating arrangements, 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 rebels, Banerjee alleged that some had switched sides to avoid scrutiny by Central agencies, while others had been lured by money or pressured into leaving. "They sold their self-respect," he said.

"Someone has to escape ED, CBI... Some are getting money, or being threatened..." he said, claiming he had "concrete proof" and inviting anyone disputing his allegations to 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."

Banerjee also alleged that Central agencies were being used to target opposition leaders. "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?" he said.

Asked whether the TMC would move court, Banerjee said the party would decide its next steps in due course. "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 the Lok Sabha will work as per the Constitution and not choke democracy," he said.

The move comes after Birla invited Banerjee to present the TMC's position before taking a decision on the rebels' demand for recognition as a separate group following their proposed merger with the NCPI.

Banerjee had also written to the speaker last week urging him not to accord any recognition, status or facilities to any group claiming to be a separate faction of the TMC, arguing that neither the Constitution nor the anti-defection law permits the creation of a separate group within an existing political party.

If the speaker accepts the rebels' plea, the NCPI would become the second-largest NDA constituent in the Lok Sabha, ahead of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which has 16 MPs, and the Janata Dal (United), which has 12. The BJP has 239 MPs of its own, excluding the speaker.

The NCPI was registered as a political party in January 2023. The Election Commission records list its address as a building in Sankrail in West Bengal's Howrah district.

Former Lok Sabha secretary-general and constitutional expert P.D.T Achary pointed to Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule, which deals with exemptions from disqualification in cases of merger. Under the provision, a member is protected from disqualification only when the original political party merges with another political party and at least two-thirds of the members of its legislature party agree to the merger.

"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," Achary told PTI.

With PTI inputs