TMC, Sena UBT & The Rebels With A Cause: How Next Few Days Will Decide Fate Of Mamata, Uddhav

Published 5 July 2026 · politics

TMC, Sena UBT & The Rebels With A Cause: How Next Few Days Will Decide Fate Of Mamata, Uddhav Written By, Last Updated: July 05

TMC, Sena UBT & The Rebels With A Cause: How Next Few Days Will Decide Fate Of Mamata, Uddhav Written By, Last Updated: July 05, 2026, 17:16 IST Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is expected to deliver a ruling on disqualification and merger disputes involving rebel MPs from TMC and Shiv Sena (UBT) before monsoon session (July 20) Rapid Read Mamata Banerjee and Uddhav Thackeray. (File) Before the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament begins on July 20, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is expected to deliver a definitive ruling on the disqualification and merger disputes involving rebel MPs from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). What are the issues? News18 explains. TMC, SENA UBT AND THE REBEL FACTIONS Twenty MPs have broken away from the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and joined the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a registered unrecognised political party headquartered in West Bengal’s Howrah, and sought separate seating arrangements in the Lok Sabha. The rebels have also expressed their allegiance to the Narendra Modi government and voiced their desire to join the ruling Democratic Alliance (NDA). Altogether, 29 MPs were elected to the Lok Sabha on TMC tickets in the 2024 general election.

One TMC MP passed away sometime ago and the seat remains vacant. In case of the Shiv Sena (UBT), nine MPs were elected, of whom six have since joined the rival Shiv Sena faction headed by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Both the TMC and the Shiv Sena (UBT) have argued before the Speaker that their rebel MPs should be disqualified as the defections fall under the anti-defection provisions of the Tenth Schedule. The two parties contend that protection from disqualification is available only in the event of a valid merger and not merely because a group of legislators has broken away. THE SPEAKER WILL HAVE LAST WORD ON… The critical outcomes and decisions currently under consideration by the Speaker’s office include 1. Merger Validation vs. Disqualification The TMC Dispute: The Speaker will rule on the request of 20 rebel TMC MPs who are seeking to merge with the NCPI and join the ruling NDA. The parent TMC, led by Abhishek Banerjee, has filed 20 separate petitions demanding their immediate disqualification under the Anti-Defection Law (Tenth Schedule), arguing that individual legislators cannot claim the protection of a merger on their own. The Shiv Sena (UBT) Dispute: The Speaker will decide the fate of six rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs who have crossed over to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction.