TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court seeking an expeditious decision by Speaker Om Birla on petitions seeking disqualification of 20 rebel TMC MPs who have chosen to merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and support the NDA.The petition filed by Banerjee – who is also a TMC leader in the Lok Sabha – is listed for hearing before a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana for hearing on August 25.Challenging the alleged delay in deciding the disqualification proceedings initiated against the MPs, Banerjee has sought directions for the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions in accordance with the anti-defection provisions of the Constitution. He had earlier submitted separate petitions against the 20 MPs and subsequently urged the Speaker to expedite their disposal.Banerjee had reportedly met Birla on August 12 after sending a written reminder on July 27.Twenty of the 29 TMC Lok Sabha MPs had ‘merged’ with the NCPI, a lesser-known Tripura-based political outfit, and sought separate recognition in the House. They have subsequently been treated as an NCPI group in Parliament and have participated in NDA parliamentary activities.The TMC contended that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that their decision to align with another political formation amounts to voluntarily giving up membership of the party, attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law i.e. the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.The rebel camp, however, maintained its move constituted a valid merger permissible under the Tenth Schedule.Besides the Lok Sabha Speaker and the LS Secretary General, the TMC has named the 20 MPs against whom the disqualification proceedings have been sought as respondents.The TMC rebel MPs are Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev, Sayani Ghosh, Bapi Haldar, Md Abu Taher Khan, Kalipada Saren Kherwal, Asit Kumar Mal, June Maliah, Mitali Bag, Khalilur Rahaman, Mala Roy, Sharmila Sarkar and Yusuf Pathan.The top court is also seized of a similar plea filed by the Shiv Sena (UBT) challenging the Speaker’s approval of the merger of its six MPs with the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.As several AAP, Shiv Sena (UBT) and TMC MPs switched sides days before the Monsoon Session of Parliament began, veteran lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal moved the Supreme Court last month seeking reinterpretation of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which allows lawmakers to avoid disqualification on defections.