Abhishek urges LS speaker to decide on disqualification pleas against 20 rebel MPs

Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee said on Wednesday that he met Speaker Om Birla in the morning and sought an early decision on the party’s pending disqualification petitions against 20 rebel MPs, warning that he would approach the Supreme Court if the Speaker fails to act within the period required by law and judicial directions.

Banerjee said he first raised the issue with Birla in June, when the individual disqualification petitions were filed against the MPs, but nearly two months have passed without any satisfactory response.

“I had already raised this issue with the Speaker in June, when individual disqualification petitions were moved against each of them. Nearly two months have passed since then, but I have still not received any satisfactory response. Even today, I have been given essentially the same answer, while the petitions remain pending,” he told reporters outside Parliament.

Banerjee said he is relying on the Supreme Court’s directions regarding timely disposal of disqualification petitions by the speaker.

“If the speaker does not decide on these petitions within the period required by law and applicable judicial directions, I will be compelled to approach the Supreme Court and seek its intervention,” he said.

Banerjee said he and other TMC MPs have repeatedly taken up the matter with Birla.