India, Sept. 3 -- Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday granted time till September 22 to 20 MPs of the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) to respond to notices issued in connection with petitions seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law.

The extension was granted after the NCPI MPs sought more time to reply to the notices issued by Birla on August 26. The notices had initially given them seven days to submit their responses, sources in Parliament said.

Birla issued the notices after TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee filed petitions seeking the disqualification of the 20 MPs.

The MPs had quit the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in June following the party's defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls and join...