NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has dismissed the case filed against four former AIADMK MLAs who resigned and joined the TVK.
The case was filed against Maragatham Kumaravel, Sathyabama, Isakki Subbaiah, and Jayakumar, alleging that the AIADMK MLAs who resigned had defected to another party.
The four leaders had contested and won in the Tamil Nadu Assembly election on behalf of the AIADMK. Maragatham Kumaravel won from Maduranthakam, Sathyabama from Dharapuram, Isakki Subbaiah from Ambasamudram, and Jayakumar from Perundurai.
After their victory, they resigned their MLA posts and joined the TVK party following which the cases were filed against them.
Selvakumar filed a petition in the Supreme Court in June last year. He sought that these four persons who switched parties should be barred from contesting in elections.
Selvakumar contended that the resignation and joining of the TVK was a clear case of defection and that the four should not be allowed to contest elections.
The Supreme Court, however, dismissed the case against the four former MLAs.
The order puts an end to the petition filed by Selvakumar in June last year seeking a bar on the four from contesting elections.
Maragatham Kumaravel, Sathyabama, Isakki Subbaiah and Jayakumar had resigned their MLA posts from Maduranthakam, Dharapuram, Ambasamudram and Perundurai respectively before joining the TVK.
On October 26 also, the SC had rejected a writ petition filed by one M Srinivasan, through advocate K Suthan, challenging a Madras High Court order dismissing his plea.
The petitioner, sought directions to the CBI to register an FIR (First Information Report) against former AIADMK MLAs N Anand alias Bussy N Anand, K Maragatham Kumaravel, S Jayakumar, P Sathyabama and E Subaya alias Esakki Subaya for allegedly indulging in horse trading to prove majority in the TN Assembly.
The apex court had termed the entire sequence a "part of political process" and declined to interfere, after noting that the "plea was without merits."
The matter concerned six legislators of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) who had voted against the party whip during a crucial vote in the Assembly and subsequently tendered their resignations. Days later, they joined the TVK led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay. The court order was a big relief for these 6 AIADMK MLAs.
The petitioner argued before the apex court that this was a calculated move to circumvent anti-defection law and that the Speaker should not have accepted their resignations but should have proceeded with disqualification. It sought a direction to declare their action illegal and to disqualify them from contesting future elections.