Lok Sabha Speaker gives NCPI MPs till September 22 to reply to disqualification notices

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday granted time till September 22 to 20 MPs of the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) to respond to notices issued in connection with petitions seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law.

The extension was granted after the NCPI MPs sought more time to reply to the notices issued by Birla on August 26. The notices had initially given them seven days to submit their responses, sources in Parliament said.

Birla issued the notices after TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee filed petitions seeking the disqualification of the 20 MPs.

The MPs had quit the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in June following the party’s defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls and joined the relatively little-known NCPI. They have since announced their allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA.

The Speaker’s action came after the Supreme Court on August 25 agreed to hear Banerjee’s plea seeking an expeditious decision on his disqualification petitions.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notice to the 20 MPs and directed that the proceedings before the Speaker be dealt with expeditiously.

Banerjee had approached the Supreme Court after filing separate petitions before the Speaker in June against the MPs who had left the TMC and aligned themselves with the NCPI.

The additional time gives the rebel MPs more room to prepare their responses and assess the legal and political implications of the proceedings, sources said.

The MPs are also understood to be seeking legal opinions on the applicability of anti-defection provisions to their case and the arguments they can advance before the Speaker.

The dispute follows a broader rupture within the TMC after its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections in May. The dissident camp has sought to demonstrate its support among elected representatives.

In the West Bengal Assembly, 65 of the TMC’s 80 MLAs had backed Ritabrata Banerjee’s claim to the Leader of Opposition post, rejecting the nominee supported by the Mamata Banerjee camp.