NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is expected to decide on the fate of rebel MPs from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Shiv Sena (UBT) before the commencement of Parliament’s Monsoon Session next month, sources familiar with the matter told news agency PTI.The Speaker has already heard representations from both the parent parties and the breakaway groups. In the TMC case, Birla met a delegation led by the party’s Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee as well as members of the rebel camp. A similar exercise was conducted in relation to the Shiv Sena (UBT) split.According to sources, legal and constitutional experts attached to Parliament are currently examining the matter and are expected to provide their recommendations before a final decision is taken. Previous rulings by presiding officers in comparable situations are also being studied to ensure any decision is legally and constitutionally sound.The Lok Sabha Secretariat is meanwhile understood to be working on possible seating arrangements ahead of the Monsoon Session, which is usually convened in the third week of July.Apart from the rebel factions of the TMC and Shiv Sena (UBT), the DMK has also sought a separate seating arrangement following the collapse of its long-standing alliance with the Congress. The Congress recently joined hands with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s party, TVK.The biggest challenge before the Speaker relates to the Trinamool Congress. Of the 29 MPs elected on TMC tickets in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 20 have broken away and aligned themselves with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a registered but unrecognised political party based in Howrah. The group has sought separate seating in the Lok Sabha and has also expressed support for the Narendra Modi government and a desire to join the NDA.One TMC MP has since passed away, leaving the party with 28 members in the House.In Maharashtra, six of the nine MPs elected on Shiv Sena (UBT) tickets have shifted allegiance to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.Both parties have urged Birla to invoke the anti-defection law and disqualify the rebel MPs. They have argued that protection under the Tenth Schedule applies only when two-thirds of the entire party merges with another political party, and not when legislators individually or collectively switch sides.Abhishek Banerjee personally pressed the TMC’s case before the Speaker and submitted 20 separate petitions seeking the disqualification of the rebel MPs.He also contended that the rebels’ claim of having merged with the NCPI was legally untenable, arguing that any valid merger must involve two-thirds of the entire political party rather than only elected representatives.Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Anil Desai and Arvind Sawant also met Birla and sought details of any submissions made by the rebel MPs.“We asked him if he had received any appeal from the rebels…” Sawant said, adding that the Speaker informed them that nothing had been received in writing.Desai said they emphasised before Birla that the Tenth Schedule leaves little room for ambiguity.“Any group of a legislature party cannot merge into some other party on its own, even if they have a two-thirds majority”.The latest dispute comes four years after the dramatic split in the undivided Shiv Sena engineered by Eknath Shinde, which led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra. In February 2023, the Election Commission recognised the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena.
