Overview
- The group of about 20 rebel Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MPs met Speaker Om Birla and submitted a letter saying they have merged with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party of India, a move the rebels say meets the two-thirds threshold required under the Tenth Schedule; the submission was made on Sunday.
- The Speaker has begun verifying signatures and has not granted formal recognition, leaving the administrative decision subject to his ruling and likely judicial challenges from the TMC leadership.
- TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has formally objected to any separate recognition, citing Supreme Court precedent that restricts the ‘split’ defence under the anti-defection law and arguing the party remains a single indivisible entity.
- The NCPI is a registered but unrecognised regional outfit with a tiny electoral record that would suddenly gain national parliamentary weight if the merger is accepted, potentially boosting NDA ranks in the Lok Sabha.
- The episode follows wider fractures inside the TMC after its state election loss, involves reported consultations between rebel MPs and senior BJP leaders, and could reshape parliamentary arithmetic and party loyalties depending on the Speaker's decision and ensuing court rulings.