The West Bengal Assembly Secretariat issued anti-defection notices to ten rebel Trinamool Congress legislators, giving them one week to reply. The notices follow a July petition by senior MLA Sovandeb Chattopadhyay asking the Speaker to disqualify the ten for acting against the party.
The targeted legislators include Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, Arup Roy, Firhad Hakim, Sandipan Saha, Akhruzzaman Ansari, Shiuli Saha, Sabina Yasmin, Biplab Mitra, Javed Khan, and Rathin Ghosh. While Mamata Banerjee’s lawyers argue the conduct meets Tenth Schedule defection tests, the rebel camp dismissed the notices as routine procedure.
The political crisis also reached the Lok Sabha, where twenty rebel MPs quit for the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and received defection notices from the Lok Sabha Secretariat. Additionally, the party name and twin-flower symbol remain disputed before the Election Commission.