With the Monsoon Session of Parliament that started on Monday, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has approved a major reshuffle in the seating arrangement of Members of Parliament, resulting in 39 MPs being allotted new seats.
Among the key changes, Trinamool Congress national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee has been allotted seat number 281, previously occupied by his party colleague and Sreerampur MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay.
On the other hand, Kolkata Uttar MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who has of late shifted his allegiance to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) has been shifted from seat number 280, earlier held by Banerjee to seat number 354.
The reshuffle follows the Lok Sabha Secretariat’s decision to allot separate seating to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs, who are now recognised as members of the NCPI. The Secretariat said that accommodating the 20 MPs separately necessitated changes in the seating arrangement of 39 Lok Sabha members.
With the strength of the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha now reduced to only eight MPs, after the recent implosion among its parliamentary ranks following its debacle in the assembly elections, the Mamata Banerjee-led Kalighat faction of the party has been allotted seats in the second row.
Other changes in seating include Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra, whose seat has been shifted from 289 to 311; Dum Dum MP Sougata Roy, who will now occupy seat number 302; and Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, who has been moved to seat number 303.
NCPI MP Kakali Ghosh Dastidar, the MP from Barasat, who had led the rebellion in the TMC’s parliamentary ranks has been shifted from seat number 285 to 279. Meanwhile, other NCPI MPs Prasun Bandyopadhyay (284), Shatabdi Roy (283), Mala Roy (293), Sayani Ghosh (306), and Rachana Bandyopadhyay have also been allotted revised seating arrangements.
It should be noted that every MP is assigned a divisional number, which determines their seating in the House and is used for parliamentary procedures, including voting and signing official documents. As a result of the latest changes, 39 MPs will occupy new seats during the Monsoon Session.