Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in his parliamentary chamber Monday, handing over two separate letters regarding pending disqualification petitions against rebel MPs and the recent reallocation of parliamentary seats. The meeting between Banerjee and the Speaker lasted approximately 20 minutes, according to party sources.
In his first letter, Banerjee urged the Speaker to urgently act on pending petitions seeking the disqualification of 20 MPs elected on the TMC symbol who have aligned themselves with the National Citizens’ Party of India (NCPI).
Banerjee pointed out that despite more than five weeks passing since the petitions were filed, no formal notices have been issued, no dates of hearing fixed, nor any procedural directions passed.
“Such continued inaction is a matter of grave concern,” Banerjee wrote in the letter. “It is well settled that the constitutional jurisdiction vested in the Hon’ble Speaker under Paragraph 6 of the Tenth Schedule is required to be exercised within a reasonable time so as to preserve the efficacy and purpose of the anti-defection law. An unduly prolonged pendency frustrates the constitutional objective of the Tenth Schedule… and risks rendering the safeguards embodied in the anti-defection law ineffective.”
Banerjee also highlighted that the urgency was further heightened after the Parliamentary Affairs Minister invited the rebel members as a separate group to an all-party meeting held on July 19. He said that such developments underscore the need for an expeditious decision to avoid undermining parliamentary integrity.
In the second letter, Banerjee raised objections to a Lok Sabha Secretariat circular dated July 18, which altered the division and seat numbers of Trinamool MPs.
Banerjee argued that it was unjust for the Secretariat to recognise Trinamool Congress as a 28-member block under his leadership while simultaneously altering seat allocations based on a unilateral request from the breakaway group. He demanded the immediate withdrawal of the revised seating arrangement.
“Pending your decision on the disqualification of these MPs and their current status being that of a non-merger with NCPI, it is patently unjust and contrary to established parliamentary practice to alter the seating/division numbers of our MPs based solely on a unilateral request from the renegade group,” Banerjee stated.
He added that the revised seating allocation was executed to the detriment of the remaining loyalist MPs, including himself, causing “unwarranted prejudice”.