CHENNAI: The Madras High Court upheld the decision of Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar to drop the disqualification proceedings against 21 of the 25 MLAs who cross-voted in favour of the TVK in the House.
In an order passed on Tuesday, the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan said, “Since the political party (AIADMK) condoned the act of the members and they continued to represent AIADMK, the disqualification sought under Paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution does not survive.”
The bench dismissed the PIL filed by advocate PV Selvakumar of Tiruttani seeking to revive the disqualification proceedings on the ground that the members, who once cross-voted defying the party’s whip, voluntarily gave up their membership and so the disqualification proceedings cannot be dropped at the request of the party (AIADMK).
“The moment the general secretary of the political party submitted a letter dated July 25, 2026 to the speaker condoning the act of the 21 members, the question of their disqualification either under Paragraph 2(1)(a) or 2(1)(b) does not arise,” the bench ruled.
The bench stated that the petitioner lacks the locus standi to interfere with the internal affairs of AIADMK or to seek disqualification of its members. It described as “totally baseless and misplaced” the contention of the petitioner, that the disqualification by conduct of the MLAs under Paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule would survive even though the party had subsequently condoned 21 of the members.
It also “outrightly rejected” the contention of the petitioner that the petition for disqualification must be independently proceeded with by the Speaker despite the general secretary of the party having submitted the condonation letter.
Advocate General Vijay Narayan appeared for the Assembly secretary while advocate K Sakthivel represented the petitioner.