The Madras High Court on Thursday upheld the disqualification of 18 AIADMK MLAs owing allegiance to ousted party leader V. K. Sasikala and her nephew and sidelined leader T. T. V Dhinakaran.
Tamil Nadu speaker P. Dhanapal had last year disqualified 18 lawmakers from the ruling party’s dissident faction led by T. T. V Dhinakaran, citing Article 190 of the Constitution.
The government notification issued by speaker Dhanapal said that the “seats held by them (the disqualified 18 MLAs) in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly shall thereupon fall vacant according to the provisions of the Article 190(3) (a) of the constitution of India.”
The 18 MLAs had approached the high court challenging the disqualification.
At least 19 legislators had withdrawn support to the Edapaddi Palaniswami-led Tamil Nadu government.
One of the dissident MLAs, STK Jakkaiyan, had later switched camps to support Palaniswami.
Meanwhile, rebel AIADMK leader T. T. V Dhinakaran told media that the future course of action will be decided after meeting with the 18 MLAs.
“It is not a setback for us. This is an experience, we will face the situation. The future course of action will be decided after meeting with the 18 MLAs,” he said.
Dhinakaran engineered a split after he was ousted following the merger of the factions led by Palaniswami and deputy chief minister O. Panneerselvam.
Dhinakaran’s aunt V. K. Sasikala, a close aide of the late chief minister Jayalalithaa, had attempted to take over the top post in the party and the government, leading to a crisis within the party that has lasted for almost a year now.
Dhinakaran who won the byelections held in Radha Krishnan Nagar Assembly constituency in December last year, launched his political party ND named it ‘Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam’ in March this year.
Following the launch, Dhinakaran said that his party will win all upcoming elections by using the latest name and party flag.