Verdict buys Tamil Nadu chief minister Palaniswami time, ruling out by-elections and a floor test till case is heard afresh.
New Delhi: The political turmoil in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) that began in December 2016, with the death of Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, shows no signs of abating even after judicial intervention.
The Madras High Court Thursday delivered a split verdict on the Tamil Nadu speaker’s decision disqualifying 18 AIADMK MLAs owing allegiance to rebel party MLA T.V.V. Dinakaran, the nephew of Jayalalithaa’s one-time aide Sasikala.
While Chief Justice Indira Banerjee upheld Speaker P. Dhanpal’s decision, Justice M. Sundar quashed it. The case will now be heard afresh by another bench.
In September 2017, the speaker had disqualified the MLAs after they pledged support to Dinakaran and withdrew support to the ADMK government led by chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami .
Breather for CM
If the high court had upheld the speaker’s decision, the 18 MLAs would stand disqualified, requiring fresh elections in their constituencies. And if the high court had quashed the speaker’s decision and reinstated the MLAs, Palaniswami would have been forced to hold a floor test and prove his majority.
It took the court more than six months to hear and decide the case on the disqualification.
As per high court rules, the case will be heard afresh by a single-judge bench nominated by the second senior-most judge H.G. Ramesh. The split ruling buys some more time for the ruling ADMK.
With the BJP still undecided over an alliance with the ADMK, fresh polls would have left the ruling party in a tricky spot.
ADMK’s factional woes
The battle to be Jayalalithaa’s successor is between two factions — one led by her close aide Sasikala and Dinakaran, the other led by Palaniswami and former chief minister O. Panneerselvam.
When the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction held a party general council meeting and ousted Sasikala and Dinakaran as interim general secretary and deputy-general secretary respectively, the 18 MLAs withdrew support to the government.
The speaker disqualified the MLAs invoking the anti-defection law and subsequently, the government issued a gazette notification declaring vacancies to their seats.
Dinakaran launched the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) after he won the RK Nagar bypolls in December last year contesting as an independent.