SC set to hear DMK's plea to disqualify 11 AIADMK MLAs
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Tuesday (July 2) moved the Supreme Court seeking an urgent hearing of its plea for disqualification of 11 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MLAs for voting against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in a 2017 confidence motion.
The court has listed the matter for hearing on Wednesday morning. The petition also seeks disqualification Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.
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This comes a day after DMK leader MK Stalin asserted in the Assembly that the party would come back to power. Chief Minister Palaniswami and opposition leader MK Stalin had also taken potshots at each other during the Assembly meeting over their Lok Sabha poll performances.
While Palaniswami claimed the DMK managed to win the Lok Sabha elections by making false promises, Stalin sought an explanation on the comment and took a dig at AIADMK for losing the 11 Assembly seats.
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The matter concerning the disqualification has been hanging by fire for quite some time now. In late September 2017, DMK whip R Chakrapani moved the Madras High Court seeking to disqualify the 11 MLAs, including Panneerserlvam under the anti-defection law. DMK’s move came after the Speaker disqualified 18 MLAs in the Assembly owing allegiance to the sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran.
The Madras High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Indhra Banerjee and Abdul Quddhose had in April last year declined a plea by the DMK to disqualify the 11 MLAs. Panneerselvam and the other 10 MLAs, then in the rebel camp, had voted against the trust vote sought by Palaniswami on February 18, 2017.
The DMK then went on an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The case was earlier listed before a bench comprising Justice AK Sikri. However, after Justice AK Sikri retired, it wasn’t listed before any of the benches in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the same bench will be hearing the case pertaining to the three MLAs over alleged anti-party activities.
