TMC disciplinary committee probes low MLA attendance
Kolkata: The Parliamentary Disciplinary Committee of Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Assembly which was examining the cause as to why the number of their party’s MLAs was low on March 20 in the Assembly came to know in the primary report that around 35-40 MLAs skipped the session on that day.
Out of them, there were several ministers as well who were not present in the Assembly despite a party whip.
The committee determined that most members had health-related issues, while some had traveled out of state for treatment or had appointments scheduled at hospitals outside the state for their relatives.
The disciplinary committee also found that many of the MLAs who attended the Assembly Session on March 20 but they forgot to mark their attendance in the register book of the Assembly. On March 19, about 215 Trinamool Congress MLAs attended the Assembly Session. The committee also warned of strong action against the MLAs who had skipped the Assembly session without a valid reason.
The committee held a meeting recently and declared that the MLAs who remained absent in the Assembly sessions will have to physically appear before the committee and explain why they skipped these sessions on March 19 and 20 despite a party whip to attend them. On March 19, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attended the Session during which more than 215 party MLAs remained present. But on March 20, the number of MLAs from the ruling
party dropped. There was a smaller number of Trinamool Congress in the Assembly House recently when the BJP MLAs were staging a demonstration. Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay has consistently raised concerns regarding the attendance of MLAs during sessions, indicating the potential implications of these absences on legislative proceedings.
In December 2024, Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with party MLAs at the Assembly premises, emphasising the necessity for greater discipline and commitment among party members to ensure effective governance and representation.
