Split verdict on 18 disqualified AIADMK MLAs, case referred to third judge

Chennai: The E.K. Palaniswami (EPS) government in Tamil Nadu got a huge respite on Thursday when a two-judge bench of the Madras high court delivered a split verdict on a batch of petitions challenging Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal’s order disqualifying 18 AIADMK legislators loyal to “rebel” leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran last September.

“In my opinion, the Speaker’s decision is not unreasonable,” said Chief Justice Indira Banerjee, while Justice M. Sundar disagreed with her and struck down the Speaker’s order.

“I respectfully submit that I disagree with the opinion of the chief justice and hereby set aside the order passed by the Speaker,” said Justice Sundar in his order. Now the issue will go before a third judge for decision and since the Chief Justice was on this bench, she has left the task of choosing the “third judge” to the senior-most judge after her, Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh.

The split verdict comes as a relief for the Palaniswami government that has 116 MLAs, excluding the Speaker, in the 234-member Assembly. The DMK has 89 members, its allies Congress has eight and the IUML has one.

While 18 MLAs owing allegiance to Mr Dhinakaran were disqualified, he remains the lone independent member in the House after getting elected from R.K. Nagar last year.

No floor test will be conducted in the Assembly and no by-elections will be held to fill up the 18 vacant seats till the third high court judge breaks the tie.

Speaker Dhanapal had passed the MLAs’ disqualification order on September 18 after the 18 MLAs called on the then governor (in-charge) C. Vidyasagar Rao on August 22 and gave identical letters informing him that they were withdrawing support to Mr Palaniswami and sought a change of guard.

Another legislator, S.T.K. Jakkaiyan, had gone along with the letter to the governor but the Speaker spared him after he met him on September 17 and gave another letter saying he was pressured to join the TTV gang.

The visit to Raj Bhavan by the TTV brigade took place a day after the rival factions of EPS and OPS merged after ejecting Dhinakaran as AIADMK deputy general secretary and declaring parting of ways with his jailed aunt Sasikala at the peak of intense power struggle that followed the death of Jayalalithaa in December, 2016.

With a galaxy of top lawyers representing all the players in this matter before the bench, the case has been keenly watched and its verdict eagerly awaited in not just Tamil Nadu but also in Delhi as speculation has been rife for long that the BJP is taking deep interest in the health of the EPS government for the sake of political stability in the state, and more importantly for building up its own party base in the Dravidian turf to be able to face the 2019 Parliament polls and the Assembly elections due in 2021.

The chief minister and his deputy O. Panneerselvam (OPS) have headed a government rattled by fears of instability caused by the TTV rebellion and the consistent badgering from the Opposition front led by the DMK on multiple issues.