Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (September 23, 2026) stopped short of requiring Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to give a specific time line for completing the disqualification proceedings pending against 20 rebel Trinamool Congress party MPs who have aligned themselves with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant was hearing a plea filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee contending that Speaker Birla was delaying disqualification proceedings under the anti-defection law.
Mr. Banerjee has sought a time-bound decision on the disqualification of the rebel MPs.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Speaker, urged the court to “not fix the Speaker’s schedule”.
This was after Justice Joymalya Bagchi, who is part of the Bench, asked Mr. Mehta to submit a timeline on the disqualification proceedings.
“The Supreme Court monitoring is not necessary,” Mr. Mehta stressed.
Senior advocates Neeraj Kishan Kaul and Maninder Singh, for the rebel MPs, said the Supreme Court monitoring and the three-month time limit highlighted in the Keshab Meghachandra Singh versus Speaker, Manipur Legislative Assembly, was only applicable in cases of “complete inaction” on the part of the Speaker concerned.
“How soon will you file your replies [to the notices issued in the disqualification petitions]?” the Bench asked.
Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, said the rebel MPs had already got six weeks, and have now sought four weeks more.
The court recorded in the order the MPs’ intention to file their replies in four weeks. It posted the case after four weeks.
Justice Bagchi termed the role of a Speaker as “amphibious”, whose responsibilities concern both the House and as a Tribunal under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution.
The Court had earlier issued notice to the Secretary General and MPs Kakori Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev, Sayani Ghosh, Bapi Haldar, Md Abu Taher Khan, Kalipada Saren Kherwal, Asit Kumar Mal, June Maliah, Mitali Bag, Khalilur Rahaman, Mala Roy, Sharmila Sarkar and Yusuf Pathan.
The dispute within the party follows a rebellion within the TMC parliamentary party after 20 of its Lok Sabha MPs announced that they had joined or merged with the NCPI, a Tripura-based political outfit, and sought separate recognition in the House.
The rebel MPs had subsequently been treated as an NCPI group in Parliament. They had participated in NDA parliamentary activities.
The TMC has maintained that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that their decision to align with another political formation amounts to voluntarily giving up membership of the party, attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law. The rebel camp has maintained that its move constituted a valid merger.
Published – September 23, 2026 03:15 pm IST
