Lok Sabha Secretariat serves notices to twenty TMC rebels over defection petitions

The Lok Sabha Secretariat issued formal notices on Aug 25 to twenty Trinamool Congress members who have defected to the NCPI, requiring their responses within a week to petitions submitted by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The petitions, filed on June 18 under Rule 6 of the 1985 Members of Lok Sabha (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, seek to disqualify the rebels under the Constitution’s Tenth Schedule.

Among the MPs named are Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Satabdi Roy. TMC MP Mahua Moitra shared a notice on X, alleging a cover-up by the Speaker. The Supreme Court has now requested a reply from the Speaker’s office on the timeliness of adjudicating the disqualification cases, while also issuing notices to the same twenty MPs.