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Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
The Supreme Court has issued an interim stay on a notice sent by the Tamil Nadu assembly speaker to three MLAs of the ruling AIADMK party. The MLAs were said to be loyal towards the TTV Dhinakaran-led AMMK camp.
Two of the MLAs who had received the notice from assembly speaker P Dhanapal had approached the Supreme Court last week to stay the notice. The top court also issued a notice to the speaker and has sought an explanation. It is expected that the case will come up for a hearing after four weeks.
While Kapil Sibal represented the MLAs who had received the notice from the speaker, Mukul Rohatgi argued on behalf of the assembly speaker P Dhanapal.
On April 26th, the AIADMK's chief whip S Rajendran had submitted a recommendation to assembly speaker P Dhanapal regarding the disqualification of three AIADMK MLAs on the grounds of âanti-partyâ activities. The MLAs were E Rathinasabapathi, VT Kalaiselvan and Prabhu, who were elected from Aranthangi, Vridhachalam and Kallakurichi assembly constituencies respectively.
Members of Tamil Naduâs opposition party DMK met the assembly secretary on May 2 to present a notice to move a no-confidence petition against Dhanapal. This is in line with the party president MK Stalinâs earlier statement that the party would move a no-confidence motion against the speaker if he acts in a biased manner.
Opposition parties in the state have been alleging that the AIADMK government - which is surviving on a slim majority - is attempting to lower the strength of the house, fearing an impending defeat in the by-elections.
While the AIADMK government does face a major challenge due to anti-incumbency in these polls, it is also true that the DMK and its allies must sweep almost all of the 22 seats in order to get the simple majority in the House.
Responding to DMKs comments regarding AIADMK fearing defeat, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami said that DMK leader MK Stalin had gone ahead with the no-confidence motion petition against the speaker as the opposition party was not confident of the bye-poll results.
The issue of MLAs disqualification had taken centre-stage in Tamil Nadu politics after the speaker disqualified 18 AIADMK legislators who had offered support to AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran in September 2017. Dhinakaran had fought a long battle in court to get the MLAs reinstated, but it went in vain after the Madras High Court upheld the disqualification in a judgement delivered in November 2018.
While 18 of the vacant assembly seats went to the polls on April 18 along with the general elections in Tamil Nadu, the remaining four assembly seats would go to the polls on May 19.
The leaders of the major parties are currently shuttling between these assembly constituencies in order to campaign for their respective candidates. The results of the by-polls to 22 assembly seats would be out on May 23 along with the results of the Lok Sabha polls.