Rajya Sabha or Assembly? AIADMK's two-seat quandary

CHENNAI:  Even as it is coming to terms with its defeat in the Assembly election, the AIADMK faces a quandary and a rather strange one at that. Its decent strength of 66 seats in the Assembly might fall to 64, if its two Rajya Sabha (RS) MPs, who won this election, refuse to give up their parliamentary seats. 

MPs R Vaithiyalingam and K P Munusamy won the Orathanadu and Veppanahalli seats respectively. According to the Representation of People’s Act, however, one cannot be an MP and an MLA at the same time. But, if the AIADMK decides to retain the MLA seats, both the RS seats will go to the DMK. 

According to sources, when an MP is declared elected MLA, they will lose their membership in the RS. They will, however, be considered ‘elected’ only after a gazette notification by the Election Commission (EC). This the EC is likely to do in the next two days. “The AIADMK MPs have to decide which post they want to retain by then,” said an official. A senior AIADMK functionary admitted that the party’s move would benefit DMK either way. “Given the AIADMK’s relationship with the BJP, the party leadership may choose to give up the MLA posts to retain it’s strength in the Upper House.  Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said, “Depending on the decision of the two MPs, we will act in accordance with the EC norms.”