NEW DELHI: The fate of 20 MPs who broke away from the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) now rests with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, after the deadline for them to respond to disqualification petitions expired on Tuesday.
The decision is awaited as Mamata Banerjee fights a separate battle in the Supreme Court to reclaim her party’s name and election symbol ahead of the October 6 bypolls in West Bengal.
Early this month, the Speaker granted the 20 rebel TMC MPs until September 22 to respond to petitions seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law, according to sources.
Birla had issued notices to the MPs on August 26, giving them seven days to respond. He later extended the deadline to September 22 at their request, sources said.
The 20 rebel TMC MPs quit the Mamata Banerjee-led party in June following its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls and joined the little-known outfit Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).
The TMC has sought their disqualification under the anti-defection law.
The notices followed the Supreme Court’s decision to hear TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee’s plea seeking an early ruling on the petitions.
Banerjee had approached the top court after filing separate petitions before the Speaker in June seeking disqualification of the MPs who had left the TMC and aligned themselves with the NCPI.
The extension gave the rebel camp more time to weigh its response to the disqualification petitions and their possible legal and political consequences, sources said.
Incidentally, both Houses of Parliament are still to be prorogued, more than 40 days after the Monsoon Session was adjourned sine die, fuelling speculation that the Centre could convene a special sitting to introduce a delimitation bill.
The TMC suffered a major blow after the EC allotted separate names and symbols to the two rival factions amid the bitter tussle over the party’s name and election symbol of ‘Twin Flowers and Grass’ last week.
The EC awarded the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘footballer’ symbol to Banerjee’s faction, and the name ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘envelope’ symbol to the rebel grouping.
In Nandigram, Banerjee’s faction has withdrawn its candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, and announced support for the Congress nominee.
However, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to urgently list Mamata Banerjee’s petition challenging the EC’s interim decision to freeze the TMC’s name and its reserved ‘Flowers & Grass’ election symbol.