Speaker initiated action on DMK plea on disqualification of 11 AIADMK MLAs: TN govt to SC

The Tamil Nadu government informed the Supreme Court on Friday the Assembly Speaker has initiated action on DMK petition alleging the speaker did not act on a plea seeking disqualification of 11 AIADMK lawmakers voted against Chief Minister E Palaniswami during a 2017 confidence vote. The 11 lawmakers included Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.

A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde, Justice B R Gavai and Justice Surya Kant took note of the submission and disposed of the petition filed by the DMK. The plea had sought disqualification of Panneerselvam and 10 others for having voted against the Palaniswami government when they were in the rebel camp.

It had contended that by voting against the trust motion, these MLAs violated the whip issued by the ruling party and hence attracted disqualification under the anti-defection law. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Amit Anand Tiwari appeared for the DMK in the case.

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