The Madras High Court has upheld the Tamil Nadu Speaker's decision disqualifying the 18 AIADMK legislators from the assembly. The verdict is a big win for Chief Minister E Palaniswami, whose government's survival depended on the verdict - there was a possibility that Palaniswami government could have fallen if the rebel legislators had voted against the government.
Justice Sathyanarayanan said there was no infirmity in the order of the Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal. "All the material that were availble at the time of passing of the order by the Speaker alone have been taken into consideration and this court cannot go into the subsequent events," he observed while upholding their disqualification.
The disqualified legislators are supporters of jailed and ousted AIADMK chief VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran. The Tamil Nadu Speaker had disqualified them last year, invoking the anti-defection law after they wrote to the state Governor seeking the replacement of Chief Minister E Palaniswami. Their letter had also mentioned that they are not withdrawing their support to the AIADMK government.
Ahead of the verdict, the legislators were moved to a hotel in the waterfall town of Courtallam in Tirunelveli district, about 600 km from Chennai, possibly to prevent their defection to the party.
Should the court set aside the Speaker's order, these members would turn legislators who could potentially bring down the current AIADMK government.
