Pramod Madhav | Akshaya Nath | Edited by Ganesh Kumar Radha Udayakumar
Chennai, September 20, 2017 | UPDATED 16:44 IST
As many as 18 lawmakers loyal to Dhinakaran were disqualified by Speaker P Dhanapal, but the High Court today said elections wouldn't be held for their seats.
The Madras High Court today said a floor test shouldn't be conducted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly until it issues further orders, and that fresh elections can't be held for the seats of 18 MLAs disqualified by Speaker P Dhanapal.
All of the disqualified lawmakers are loyal to sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, who is vying for supremacy within the party with Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and his deputy, O Panneerselvam.
After Dhanapal took his decision, Palaniswami's government had notified the Election Commission that 18 seats were vacant.
Although Dhinakaran's MLAs technically are still disqualifed, the High Court's decision buys him time during a turbulent phase in Tamil Nadu politics. When several MLAs pledged allegiance to Dhinakaran and Sasikala after the Pannerselvam and Palaniswami camps came together, it changed the numbers game in the Assembly. Without Dhinakaran's MLAs, the Tamil Nadu government did not have enough legislators to get past the halfway mark in the legislature.
18 MLAs loyal to Dhinakaran now stay in a resort in Karnataka's Coorg. Most of them were moved there shortly after the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam merger.
One MLA, Vetrivelan, returned to Chennai to oversee the Dhinakaran camp's challenge to the Speaker's decision to disqualify them, but another MLA defected and took his place at the resort.
VIDEO: This report, filed earlier on Wednesday, will help you understand why Tamil Nadu has been watching its High Court with bated breath.
