AIADMK row: Madras HC adjourns hearing on plea, stay on floor test to continue

The Madras High Court on Wednesday adjourned hearing of plea challenging disqualification of 18 MLAs supporting TTV Dinakaran to October 9. Also, the stay on floor test will continue.

The Madras High court is hearing multiple petitions on the AIADMK crisis in Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, the court issued a notice to assembly speaker Dhanapal on DMK's petition seeking disqualification of 18 MLAs including deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam for cross-voting in February's floor test.

The speaker has been asked to file a reply on the DMK's plea by October 12. The DMK in its petition has sought disqualification of O Panneerselvam as well as the MLAs who voted against Edappadi Palanisamy in February. The petition argues that if the speaker had the authority to disqualify MLAs supporting TTV Dinakaran, the same should apply for those who voted against the government despite being from the same party.

Hectic activity was witnessed at the Madras High Court with senior advocates like Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for TTV Dinakaran and Mukul Rohatgi for the speaker. Earlier in the day, Tamil Nadu assembly speaker filed his counter to petitions challenging disqualification of MLAs supporting TTV Dinakaran. The 500-odd page affidavit claimed that the 18 MLAs who had been disqualified had not responded satisfactorily.

Singhvi who appeared on behalf of TTV Dinakaran camp accused the speaker of being biased. "We are not against the government but do not support the Chief Minister. He is corrupt and is encouraging corrupt practices. We will not pull the government down. The speaker has disqualified us without addressing our concerns," Singhvi presented the arguments for the disqualified MLAs.

OneIndia News