The West Bengal Assembly Secretariat issued notices on Tuesday to ten legislators aligned with the rebel faction of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), demanding replies within a week to a disqualification petition filed by the Mamata Banerjee‑led faction. The notices were sent to Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee and nine other MLAs – Arup Roy, Firhad Hakim, Sandipan Saha, Akhruzzaman Ansari, Shiuli Saha, Sabina Yasmin, Biplab Mitra, Javed Khan and Rathin Ghosh.
The disqualification plea was brought to the Supreme Court by senior TMC MLA Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, the Mamata Banerjee camp’s nominee for the opposition leader post. Chattopadhyay had earlier sought the Assembly Speaker’s approval to disqualify the ten MLAs under the anti‑defection law, alleging that they had acted against the party’s interests. The matter is also before the Calcutta High Court, where Chattopadhyay challenged the Speaker’s decision to recognise Ritabrata Banerjee as leader of the opposition.
The notices bring the factional battle within the TMC into the Assembly’s procedural framework, with rival camps contesting both leadership and legitimacy in the House. The rebel camp, claiming support from 65 of the party’s 80 MLAs, has elected Akhruzzaman Ansari as chief whip and is conducting parallel organisational activities. The crisis followed the TMC’s defeat in the May elections.
Parallel to the state assembly, 20 Lok Sabha MPs from the rebel camp have quit the TMC and joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India, which aligns with the BJP‑led NDA. The Lok Sabha Secretariat has issued notices to these MPs on petitions for disqualification under the anti‑defection law, following a Supreme Court decision to hear a plea for an expeditious decision by the Lok Sabha Speaker. The TMC’s name and symbol remain contested before the Election Commission, with a decision still pending.
