Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has called the merger of 20 rebel MPs with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India 'invalid' citing the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.
Banerjee argued that once a legislator decides to join another party, they should be disqualified from Lok Sabha.
He also stated that merger is only valid if two-thirds of the entire party merges into another, not just members of the legislative party.
The 10th Schedule defines the anti-defection law, which was enacted to curb the practice of legislators frequently jumping ships.
Under the law, a legislator can be disqualified if they voluntarily leave their political party or vote against the party's official direction in the legislature.
However, paragraph 4 has an exception: the merger of the original political party shall be deemed to have taken place if not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger.
Banerjee sought the disqualification of the rebel MPs from the Lok Sabha citing their will to break away and elect a Lok Sabha leader, chief whip, and ask for a separate sitting arrangement.
