On the one hand, a meeting of rebel MPs is being held at the house of Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav regarding the rebellion in the Trinamool Congress parliamentary party and plans are being made to form a separate group. On the other hand, TMC MPs Karti Jha Azad and Sagarika Ghosh reached the residence of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in New Delhi on Sunday and met him. TMC MPs handed over a letter from party general secretary and parliamentary party leader Abhishek Banerjee to the Speaker. In the letter written on June 10, the Speaker has been requested not to recognize the separate group. Along with this, legal options have been kept open.
After giving the letter, Kirti Jha Azad said that he had come to give the application. Application has been given to the Speaker, it is expected that the Speaker will work as per the law.
The letter states that TMC Some Lok Sabha members of TMC have sent a letter to your office, requesting to be recognized as an independent group or faction separate from the TMC legislative party. Keeping in view the constitutional and legal position in this regard, I request you not to recognize the separate group. If any such communication is received, AITC should be given an opportunity to present its stand before taking any decision on it.
Same TMC, no separate faction
He said that TMC is a unified and indivisible political party. Its legislative party in the Lok Sabha is dependent on the political party for its existence and legitimacy and remains a part of it.
He said that within TMC there is only one TMC, only one House leader and only one Chief Whip, who are appointed by the political party and its authorized organizational leadership. No member or group of members can claim independent recognition in the House by forming a parallel group or faction within the same party on its own will.
He said that this situation is based on the decision of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court Principal Secretary, Governor of Maharashtra & Ors. Versus has been clearly established by Subhash Desai et al (2023).
Creating separate groups is illegal
The letter said that In this decision given on 11 May 2023, the Court made the following important conclusions: The defense of split has ended. After the 91st Constitutional Amendment (2003), Para 3 of the Tenth Schedule has been removed. Therefore, division of any political party is no longer considered a valid basis. Such cases are now viewed from the point of view of disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Political party is supreme, not legislative party: The Supreme Court said that the leader and whip of the House are appointed by the political party and not the legislative party. Therefore, a breakaway group cannot appoint its own leader or whip nor can it get itself recognized as a separate entity.
The Speaker recognizes the political party, not rival factions: If two or more factions declare themselves to be real political parties, it is the responsibility of the Speaker to determine which is the real political party. The purpose of the system is not to give independent recognition to any group, but to identify the real political party.
The letter states that the alleged request to recognize any separate group or faction within TMC is legally unacceptable and illegal. After the 91st Constitutional Amendment, the only valid route is merger, and that too only when:
- The political party itself should merge with another party; And
- At least two-thirds of the members of the legislative party should support that merger.
It has been said in the letter that the separation of only two-thirds of the MLAs is not enough. If a member or group declares itself a separate party or faction, rejects the party leadership, or votes against the party whip, he or she may be subject to disqualification under the Tenth Schedule.
It has been said in the letter that I also want to draw attention to Instruction 121 and related instructions issued by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. According to them, recognition is given only through the leader authorized by the political party. There is no provision in these instructions to recognize the opposition group within an existing political party.
Read this also- Rebel TMC MPs demand to form separate faction, 19 MPs sign letter to Speaker
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