TMC 2.0 is born, but will it find a place in the Sun?
It's official now, the Trinamul Congress (TMC) party has split, with the majority of 59 out of 80 MLAs opting out of the party founded and led by Mamata Banerjee.
The Opposition, especially the India Bloc, is now united to move an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar following a similar motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The initiative by the Trinamul Congress (TMC) has gained momentum.
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According to sources, tomorrow, a 10-page notice will be submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker, requesting the removal of Gyanesh Kumar from his position as CEC.
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In a similar manner, a 10-page notice, requesting the removal of the CEC, will be submitted to Chairman of the Rajya Sabha CP Radhakrishnan. Currently, efforts to collect signatures of opposition members of both the houses of Parliament are at peak. On behalf of the TMC, Shatabdi Roy in the Lok Sabha and Nadimul Haque in the Rajya Sabha have managed to gather more than the required number of signatures from Tuesday to Thursday.
To present the motion for impeachment in the Lok Sabha, a minimum of 100 signatures from Members of Parliament (MPs) is required, while the Rajya Sabha requires at least 50 signatures.
According to sources, 130 signatures have already been collected in the Lok Sabha and 60 in the Rajya Sabha. Leader of the Trinamul Congress in the Lok Sabha Abhishek Banerjee, who is in Kolkata, will not be travelling to Delhi. Since the TMC is the primary initiator of the impeachment motion against Gyanesh Kumar, a copy of the impeachment application is being sent to Kolkata to collect his signature to be submitted in both houses of Parliament tomorrow, Friday, according to sources.
The impeachment against the CEC will follow the same procedure as that required for the impeachment of a judge.
Several opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party, DMK, and Shiv Sena, expressing keen interest in supporting the process of bringing an impeachment proposal against Gyanesh Kumar.
Furthermore, it is reported that this would mark the first instance of an impeachment being brought against a CEC, prompting discussions on various legal aspects from the TMC side.
It should be noted here that the leaders of the opposition parties in both the houses, namely Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, will not sign the proposal. A leader from the TMC has stated that opposition leaders typically do not endorse such proposals. However, several Congress members, including KC Venugopal, Gaurav Gogoi, P Chidambaram, and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, have all signed it. The Opposition is united in their effort to remove Gyanesh Kumar, with many political parties, excluding Congress, such as the Samajwadi Party, DMK, and Shiv Sena, actively participating. Nevertheless, it has been reported by TMC sources that no support has been sought from parties like BJD, YSRCP, and Shiromani Akali Dal. Though the Opposition knows it doesn’t have the number, it is confident of winning the debate on this kind of issue to be raised in the house itself.
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