Madras HC Upholds Speaker Decision Dropping AIADMK MLAs Disqualification Case

The Madras High Court has upheld the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker's decision to drop disqualification proceedings against 21 AIADMK MLAs who voted in favour of the TVK government in the state assembly in defiance of a party whip.

A first bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan ruled that the question of disqualification did not arise because the general secretary of the AIADMK had condoned the violation committed by the legislators.

The ruling came on a petition filed by advocate P V Selvakumar, who had challenged the Speaker's order dropping the disqualification proceedings against the 21 lawmakers. The petitioner had argued that despite the AIADMK general secretary submitting a letter condoning the actions of the members, the disqualification petition remained valid and ought to have been pursued independently by the Speaker.

The High Court rejected this contention outright. The judges observed that because the political party had condoned the conduct of the members, and the members subsequently continued to represent the AIADMK, the plea for disqualification sought under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution no longer survived.

In addition to addressing the constitutional grounds, the bench noted that the petitioner was an entirely unrelated third party with no connection to the internal affairs of the AIADMK. Consequently, the court held that he lacked the requisite legal standing to interfere in the internal functioning of the political party or to demand the disqualification of its elected representatives.