Rebel TMC MPs seek four more weeks as Speaker's disqualification deadline lapses

Twenty Lok Sabha MPs who left Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress have asked for four more weeks to respond to disqualification petitions. Their extended deadline to reply to notices from Speaker Om Birla expired on Tuesday, leaving the decision on extra time up to the Speaker.

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar stated that the group is still gathering the necessary documents for their response. The MPs defected to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India in June following the TMC’s defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections.

TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee filed the disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule and later went to the Supreme Court for an early ruling. The Mamata camp criticized the latest request for more time, labeling the MPs as turncoats who won on anti-BJP votes.