Chennai: The Madras High Court has
delivered its verdict today on the disqualification of 18 legislators in September by Tamil Nadu assembly speaker P Dhanapal. The disqualified legislators, in a letter to then governor C Vidyasagar Rao, had withdrawn support to Edappadi K Palaniswami while making it clear that they were not withdrawing their support to the AIADMK government.
The High Court earlier did not stay the Speaker's move but put the floor test on hold and directed that the 18 seats be kept vacant till its final orders. The ruling
The bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar, delivered a split verdict, with Chief Justice Indira Banerjee confirming the disqualification decision, but with Justice M Sundar disagreeing.
The decision has been referred to a third judge, whose name will likely be decided by Huluvadi G Ramesh, the second senior-most judge of the Madras High Court.
The decision has come as a relief to the E Palaniswami government, which will not come under the threat of proving its majority in the assembly for now.
Here are the highlights of Madras High Court's verdict on the 18 disqualified AIADMK MLAs:
Jun 14, 2018 18:07 (IST)
"I feel dissatisfied that the verdict has facilitated in giving two or three months of extension to the anti-people government in Tamil Nadu. Even people are dissatisfied," TTV Dhinakaran said reacting to the court order.
Jun 14, 2018 13:56 (IST)
The 2019 elections are coming up. This gives time to the Tamil Nadu government to consolidate their position. The Chief Justice had said in court that a third judge will be named.
Jun 14, 2018 13:36 (IST)
The two-judge bench of the Madras High Court is currently reading out the judgement for the 18 disqualified AIADMK MLAs.