A day after the Supreme Court agreed to hear TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee's plea seeking an expeditious decision on disqualification petitions, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has issued notices to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs, seeking their replies within seven days, sources said.
The notices, dated August 25, were issued under Rule 6 of the Members of Lok Sabha (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1985, and included copies of Banerjee's petitions filed on June 18 against the MPs, the sources said.
The development comes amid a dispute within the TMC parliamentary party after the 20 MPs announced that they had joined or merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a Tripura-based political outfit, and sought separate recognition in the House.
The MPs have since been treated as an NCPI group in Parliament and have participated in NDA parliamentary activities.
The TMC has maintained that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that their decision to align with another political formation amounts to voluntarily giving up membership of the party, attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law. The rebel camp, however, has maintained that their move constitutes a valid merger.
The Supreme Court had on Tuesday agreed to hear Banerjee's plea challenging the alleged delay in deciding the disqualification proceedings. A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana also issued notice to the 20 MPs.
The court did not issue notice to the Lok Sabha Speaker or the secretary-general after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said he was representing them.
During the hearing, the court observed, "It is not a question of issuing notices; it is a question of concluding the proceedings within a time frame."
Banerjee had filed separate disqualification petitions against the 20 MPs and subsequently sought their expeditious disposal. He also met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on August 12 after sending a written reminder on July 27.
The 20 MPs named in Banerjee's petitions are Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev, Sayani Ghosh, Bapi Haldar, Md Abu Taher Khan, Kalipada Saren Kherwal, Asit Kumar Mal, June Maliah, Mitali Bag, Khalilur Rahaman, Mala Roy, Sharmila Sarkar and Yusuf Pathan.
(With inputs from PTI)