Chennai, Oct 13:
The Madras High Court on Tuesday upheld Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar’s decision to accept the resignations of six rebel AIADMK MLAs who quit their Assembly seats and the party before joining the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) led by Chief Minister Vijay. The ruling is a setback for the AIADMK, which has been facing a series of defections.
Passing orders on petitions filed by AIADMK Whip S S Krishnamurthy and Desiya Makkal Katchi leader M L Ravi challenging the Speaker’s decision, the first Bench comprising Chief Justice S A Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan also directed the Speaker to decide within two months on the pending disqualification proceedings against four other rebel MLAs.
The AIADMK whip had questioned the acceptance of the resignations on the ground that disqualification proceedings against the legislators were already pending. The court had reserved its verdict on September 1 after hearing the arguments of all parties. The judgment, originally expected on October 9, was subsequently deferred and pronounced on Tuesday.
Following the Assembly election results, 25 AIADMK MLAs allegedly violated the party whip by supporting the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister Vijay in the Assembly. The AIADMK subsequently petitioned the Speaker to initiate disqualification proceedings against all 25 legislators under the anti-defection law.
Of the 25 MLAs, four — K Maragatham Kumaravel of Madurantakam, P Sathyabama of Dharapuram, Esakki Subbiah of Ambasamudram and S Jayakumar of Perundurai — resigned from the Assembly and the AIADMK before joining the TVK. Their resignations were seen as an attempt to pre-empt action under the anti-defection law.
The AIADMK later condoned the actions of the remaining 21 MLAs after they expressed regret and tendered an apology. The party then asked the Speaker to drop the disqualification proceedings against them while proceeding against the four legislators who had resigned.
Subsequently, two more AIADMK MLAs representing Karur and Viralimalai also resigned from the Assembly and joined the TVK, having escaped disqualification proceedings. The Speaker accepted their resignations as well, and the constituencies were declared vacant. The Assembly Secretariat communicated the vacancies to the Election Commission to facilitate by-elections. With six MLAs leaving the party, the AIADMK’s strength in the Assembly fell from 47 to 41.
The AIADMK initially challenged the Speaker’s decision to accept the resignations of the four legislators and later brought the resignations of the other two within the scope of its petition. On Tuesday, the High Court upheld the Speaker’s decision to accept all six resignations but directed him to decide on the pending disqualification proceedings involving four other MLAs within two months.
By-elections were held in Madurantakam and Dharapuram on October 6, with Maragatham Kumaravel and Sathyabama winning the seats again on TVK tickets. However, the High Court has restrained the Election Commission from conducting by-elections in five other constituencies — Trichy East, Karur, Ambasamudram, Viralimalai and Perundurai — citing the pendency of election petitions.
Trichy East fell vacant after Vijay, who had won from two constituencies, resigned from that seat. Although seven Assembly seats had fallen vacant, including Madurantakam and Dharapuram, the court’s restriction applies to the five constituencies where the bypolls remain pending. The Election Commission also informed the court that it would not issue notifications for these five by-elections until the related election petitions were disposed of.
During the final hearing, the Speaker argued that resignations had to be accepted in accordance with democratic norms and that he could not compel legislators to continue in office against their wishes.
While reserving its verdict on September 1, the High Court had also declined to entertain a fresh petition filed by Isakki Subbiah seeking permission to withdraw his resignation and continue as an MLA until the election petitions were decided. Subbiah had informed the Speaker that he wanted to remain in office until a final verdict was delivered in the cases concerning the by-elections.