Rebel TMC MPs demand three weeks to respond to Lok Sabha notice on disqualification plea

Rebel TMC MPs Saayoni Ghosh and June Maliah. File Image | Photo credit: ANI

Twenty Lok Sabha MPs who quit the TMC and joined the nationalist Civic Party of India (NCPI) have asked for three weeks to respond to notices issued by Speaker Om Birla on a petition seeking their disqualification under the Anti-Transgression Act, senior leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said on Tuesday (1 September 2026).

The Lok Sabha Secretariat issued notices to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs on August 26, seeking their replies within seven days to petitions filed by TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee seeking their disqualification, sources said.

The August 25 notice was sent to MPs along with a copy of Banerjee’s June 18 petition.

“On August 26, we received a letter from the Lok Sabha Secretariat seeking our response regarding Abhishek Banerjee’s letter to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha demanding the cancellation of the membership of 20 NCPI MPs. We have written to the Lok Sabha Secretariat and asked for three weeks’ time to respond,” Bandyopadhyay told PTI.

Another NCPI lawmaker said rebel lawmakers consulted lawyers before finalizing their response, suggesting the group was preparing a detailed legal defense rather than rushing to meet the original seven-day deadline.

The demand for more time comes at a politically sensitive time, with the disqualification battle now playing out alongside a larger organizational and legislative confrontation between the TMC leadership and the dissident camp.

The notices were issued after the Supreme Court on August 25 agreed to hear TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee’s plea seeking an expedited decision by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha on petitions seeking disqualification of rebel MPs.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohan issued a notice to 20 MPs on Banerjee’s plea and ordered that the disqualification proceedings before the Speaker be dealt with expeditiously.

Mr. Banerjee approached the Supreme Court after filing separate petitions before the Speaker in June seeking the disqualification of MPs who had left the TMC and joined hands with the NCPI.

After the announcement, the spokeswoman invited the MPs to send their answers within seven days.

The decision to seek more time gives the rebel camp a breathing space as it weighs the legal and political implications of the disqualification proceedings, a rebel TMC MP said.

MPs are also understood to be seeking legal opinions on the applicability of the anti-abortion provisions to their case and the arguments that can be put to the Speaker.

The tussle over 20 Lok Sabha seats is the latest flashpoint in a wider rift that has turned the TMC’s internal crisis into a direct institutional and political contest after its defeat in the parliamentary elections in May this year.

The dissident camp has already sought to demonstrate that it has significant support among the party’s elected representatives. In the West Bengal Assembly, 65 out of 80 TMC MLAs supported Ritabrata Banerjee’s claim for the post of Leader of Opposition, rejecting the candidate supported by Mamata Banerjee’s camp.

The rebels subsequently called a special session, elected senior MLA Arup Roy as chairman and announced a parallel national leadership structure, arguing that the existing leadership had lost the confidence of the majority of elected representatives.

The confrontation then moved to Parliament, where 20 Lok Sabha MPs allied with the newly formed NCPI and joined the BJP-led NDA.

For the TMC leadership, the parliamentary defections were presented as evidence of a coordinated political shift towards the BJP. However, the dissident camp insists that its political and organizational decisions are driven by a loss of confidence in the existing TMC leadership.

The disqualification proceedings have therefore taken on a significance that goes beyond the fate of individual MPs, with both camps watching closely to see if the speaker’s decision could change the balance of political power in West Bengal.

Published – 02 Sep 2026 01:40 IST