The Lok Sabha Secretariat on Wednesday issued notices to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs, seeking their replies within seven days to TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee’s disqualification petition.
The petition has been filed under the anti-defection law. The notices were issued on August 25 and included a copy of Banerjee’s June 18 petition.
The action came a day after the Supreme Court agreed to hear Banerjee’s petition. On Tuesday, the court issued notices to the 20 rebel MPs but did not issue notices to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s office or the Secretary-General of the House.
Names of the 20 MPs in the petition
Abhishek Banerjee had earlier filed separate disqualification petitions against the 20 MPs. He later sought early completion of the proceedings. The MPs named in Banerjee’s petition are:
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Shatabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev, Sayani Ghosh, Bapi Halder, MD Abu Taher Khan, Kalipada Saren Kherwal, Asit Kumar Mal, June Maliah, Mitali Bag, Khalilur Rahman, Mala Roy, Sharmila Sarkar and Yusuf Pathan.
Banerjee also met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on August 12 over the issue. Earlier, he had sent a written reminder to the Speaker on July 27.
Dispute began after 20 MPs joined NCPI
Of TMC’s 28 MPs from Bengal, a group of 20 rebel MPs has merged with Tripura’s Nationalist Citizens Party (NCPI).
Rebel group leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar announced the move after submitting a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on June 17, 2026. She said, “We will work with the NDA under the leadership of PM Modi.”
Rebel MPs seek recognition as separate group
The group of rebel MPs has sought recognition as a separate group in the Lok Sabha. TMC says these MPs were elected on its election symbol.
According to the party, their decision to join another political organisation comes under the provisions of the anti-defection law.
The Speaker and Lok Sabha Secretary-General were also made respondents in the petition. However, after arguments by Tushar Mehta, the court declined to issue formal notices against them.
2 demands from both factions, 4 key points
1. Rebel TMC MPs have asked the Speaker to provide them separate seating space in Parliament.
2. The Nationalist Citizens Party will support the NDA. The rebel faction has the support of two-thirds of the MPs.
3. The court will decide which faction is the real TMC. The rebel faction will also stake a claim to the TMC’s election symbol, ‘Twin Flowers’.
4. The Mamata Banerjee faction has written to the Speaker, seeking that the separate group not be recognised.
