CHENNAI : When it is a settled law that the Election Commission is the only authority to adjudicate affairs of a recognised party under the Representation of the People Act, Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal crossed his jurisdiction and decided on the disqualification matter, even when the issue regarding the party was sub judice before the ECI, senior counsel for the 18 disqualified MLAs Mohan Parasaran said.
Mohan told this to Justice M Sathyanarayanan, the third judge hearing the matter to put an end to the issue.
Mohan said that the entire episode of the disqualification proceedings of the 18 AIADMK MLAs was staged by the Speaker when the party was in ‘hibernation’ in view of the interim order of the Election Commission of India.
“The Speaker took contrary views of two identical issues. He thought the proceedings before ECI or the interim order passed by ECI would not restrain him from deciding the disqualification. But in case of OPS and supporters, who defied the whip and voted against the confidence motion, he said that he could not initiate any proceeding against them in view of the ECI’s interim order,” Parasaran said. The hearing was adjourned to Wednesday for senior counsel Aryama Sundaram to commence his arguments on behalf of Speaker defending his disqualification order.