(12.40 pm) Ambulance arrives in Assembly
(12.28 pm) Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal leaves the House escorted by marshals
(12.14 pm) Assembly adjourned till 1 pm.
(12.05 pm) Speaker gheraoed by MLAs of OPS camp and Opposition seeking a secret ballot. Slogans being raised demanding secret ballot. The ruling party is opposing the desire for secrecy.
(11.45 am) Since there is no official information from the Assembly hall as representatives can't communicate and audio has been cut off, we are unable to provide information now.
11.34 am: Speaker Dhanapal rejects Stalin's request of conducting floor test on another day.
It is a vote by division in the floor test happening in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Proceedings in the floor test for the Edapaddi Palaniswamy government began in the midst of chaos on Saturday morning.
The OPS faction of the AIADMK and the Opposition had sought a secret ballot.
TN Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami was not in favour of secret ballot as it could lead to cross voting.
He proposed the floor Test in the State Assembly.
Audio of assembly proceedings have been cut off in the secretariat press room.
Earlier, the O. Panneerselvam camp appointed sitting MLA Semmalai as the party whip and sent a letter to the Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal to this effect.
AIADMK Presidium Chairman E Madhusudhanan and AIADMK Treasurer O Panneerselvam in the letter said they had appointed S Semmalai as the party whip, prior to the motion of confidence in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
As per AIADMK party rules and regulations, in the absence of the General Secretary, party functionaries appointed by the previous General Secretary shall perform these functions.
Tamil Nadu is facing its first floor test in 30 years. After non-stop frenzy since O. Panneerselvam’s Marina revolt, the scene has now shifted to the Assembly where Edappadi K. Palaniswami is seeking a trust vote. The lone IUML member has decided to oppose the motion.
Of the AIADMK’s official strength of 134, there are 11 dissidents including former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam. On Friday, former Chennai Police Commissioner R. Natraj, the AIADMK’s Mylapore constituency MLA, decided to throw in his lot with Mr. Panneerselvam.
Nonetheless, the AIADMK whip S. Rajendiran issued a directive to all party MLAs to attend the Assembly and vote in favour of the motion.
The need for moving a confidence motion arose after a group of MLAs declared support to Mr. Panneerselvam, who now heads the rebel AIADMK.