Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar's TMC rebellion hinges on a crucial number - 19. If she can muster two-thirds of the party's MPs, they can switch sides without losing their Lok Sabha seats. The same arithmetic was used by AAP's Raghav Chadha, who merged with the BJP in April. However, the TMC rebels face several challenges, including the fact that the merger route is contested and the numbers are in dispute.
The anti-defection law, set out in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, aims to prevent elected members from switching parties for power or money. If a party's legislators agree to merge with another party, they are protected, but only if they reach the two-thirds mark. The TMC rebels are now trying to reach this threshold, but their loyalists argue that they will find it 'very difficult' to do so.
Kakoli Ghosh has been defiant, insisting that she has 'fought for Bengal' for 40 years and is acting on the state's interests, not her own. However, the numbers game remains elusive, and the outcome of the TMC rebellion hangs in the balance.
