Kolkata, Oct. 8 -- Twenty rebel TMC MPs, who aligned themselves with the NCPI, have sought an additional 15 days to respond to notices issued by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on a petition seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law, parliamentarian Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said on Thursday.
The move comes as the deadline granted to them to send replies to the notices is to end on October 8.
Ghosh Dastidar, who is among the rebels, said the MPs were yet to collate all the documents required for preparing their response and had therefore sought another extension from the Lok Sabha secretariat.
"Our deadline to send a reply is about to end today. We are writing to the Lok Sabha Speaker requesting 15 days more time," Ghosh Dastidar told PTI.
The MPs were given time till October 8 by the Lok Sabha secretariat to submit their replies within the stipulated timeframe.
However, their legal team could not complete the response as the deadline approached, prompting the MPs to seek additional time.
The disqualification notices were issued following a petition seeking action against the MPs under the anti-defection provisions.
The rebels have maintained that their decision to leave the TMC and align with the NCPI does not attract disqualification.
The 20 MPs are also scheduled to hold an urgent meeting in Kolkata at 3 pm on Thursday to discuss the issue, Ghosh Dastidar said.
The meeting is expected to discuss the Lok Sabha notices and their next course of action.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.