The Congress had bagged 21 seats in the 60-member Assembly after the 2018 polls. (Representational)
Senior Congress leaders in Meghalaya met Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh on Monday and sought disqualification of 12 of its MLAs, who recently switched over to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool, a member of the grand old party said.
Led by state unit chief and Lok Sabha MP Vincent H Pala, Congress legislature party leader Ampareen Lyngdoh and two other legislators submitted to the speaker petitions for disqualification of each of 12 MLAs, including former chief minister Mukul Sangma, under the anti-defection law.
"It is humbly prayed that your honour be pleased to take such procedural measures as mandated under Rule 7 of the Members of Meghalaya Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on ground of Defection) rules, 1988," Ampareen said in the 12 petitions.
Mr Sangma and 11 other Congress MLAs had on November 25 officially informed the speaker of their decision to cross over to the Trinamool.
The desertion by more than two-thirds of the Congress legislative party makes TMC, a newbie in Meghalaya, the principal opposition in the northeastern state.
The Congress had bagged 21 seats in the 60-member Assembly after the 2018 polls.
However, with the demise of three MLAs and switch over of one to the NPP, the number dipped to 17.
Of them, 12 joined the Trinamool last week.
The speaker had ruled out any illegality in their joining the Trinamool.
Notably, the anti-defection law permits merger of two-third members of a legislature group with another party without attracting penal provisions.
Earlier in the day, Mr Sangma and the 11 other MLAs flew down to Kolkata and held a meeting with the Trinamool supremo, following which Charles Pyngrope was appointed as the party's state unit president.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)