Kolkata, Sept. 25 -- The 20 Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) MPs, who had sought four weeks to respond to notices issued in connection with disqualification proceedings, have been given two weeks by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The MPs, including Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, have been asked to submit their replies by October 8.
The Speaker had sought their response on why they left the Trinamool Congress and joined the NCPI and why the anti-defection law should not be applied against them.
The MPs were initially given seven days to respond, followed by three weeks and then another two weeks. After the latest deadline of September 22 passed, the MPs sought another month.
NCPI MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said, "We have just received the letter. We see that the Speaker has asked us to respond within two weeks. We are collecting all the documents. We will submit our response to the Speaker within the stipulated time. Before that, we will discuss the matter within the party."
Mamata Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee said, "The Supreme Court had given four weeks. It had also asked that the Speaker's action be monitored during this period. The Speaker has given two weeks within that timeframe. The NCPI MPs will have to reply within this period. We will announce our next step later."
The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard a petition concerning the disqualification of the 20 MPs and called for an early resolution of the matter, without issuing a specific direction.
Abhishek Banerjee had separately approached the Speaker on June 18 seeking disqualification of the 20 MPs.
After no decision was taken, he moved the Supreme Court, which issued notices on August 25 to the MPs, the Speaker and the Lok Sabha Secretary General. Subsequently, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued notices to the MPs seeking their response.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.