TMC vs TMC: Lok Sabha Speaker to hear both factions and decide on official recognition

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is reportedly set to hear the breakaway Trinamool Congress faction, as well as the group led by Mamata Banerjee, before deciding on whether to grant official recognition to the rebel faction.

The development comes amid an escalating crisis within the TMC after a group of MPs staked claim to being the party's legitimate parliamentary wing and sought recognition from the Speaker.

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The Speaker's office has reportedly also sent an email to the Mamata-led faction, which has now significantly reduced in strength following the exodus, seeking its view.

Legal opinion

Earlier, it was reported that Birla was likely to seek legal opinion on the defected leaders' demand to be recognised as a separate group after a proposed merger with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).

Any decision on the group's demand will reportedly be taken before the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which usually commences in the third week of July.

A decision on whether the breakaway faction gets the recognition will be based on the written opinion of the Union law ministry, which will give it after consulting a senior law officer.

Also read: Despite NCPI merger, rebel MPs' fight over TMC identity is far from over

The legal opinion will be sought so that the Speaker's decision, if challenged in court, can withstand judicial scrutiny.

Merger plan under scrutiny

Former secretary general of the Lok Sabha and constitutional expert PDT Achary cited paragraph 4 of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution to underline that only a political party can merge with another political party, not MPs or MLAs.

He told news agency PTI that if the leadership of a political party decides to merge with another political party, its MLAs and MPs have to agree on the merger "but MPs or the MLAs alone cannot merge with another political party... this is the Constitutional provision."

Also read: Will Mamata’s TMC follow history? A look at 6 parties that merged with Congress

A former Election Commission officer, who dealt with political parties in the poll authority, described the current plan of the TMC rebels to merge with the NCPI as an "innovation" that has no mention in either the anti-defection law or the Representation of the People Act.

Deepening crisis

The crisis in the TMC deepened on Sunday (June 14) as the defected MPs announced their merger with the NCPI and met Birla seeking a separate seating arrangement in the Lower House.

After the meeting, defected MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said 20 party MPs had signed the representation submitted to the Speaker.

Also read: TMC pushed to the brink in LS as veteran MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay joins rebels

"Two-thirds of TMC MPs have given a letter to the Speaker for a separate seating arrangement. We will merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party and support the NDA," she said.

The NCPI registered itself as a political party in January 2023, with a building in Sankarail in West Bengal's Howrah district as its address in the ECI records and has little footprint in national politics.