CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has dismissed a PIL challenging the Speaker’s decision to drop the disqualification proceedings against 21 AIADMK MLAs.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan observed that the MLAs had been pardoned for violating the party whip and continued to remain members of the party.
“They have not resigned. The petitioner is a third party. The members were pardoned within 15 days as per law and the disqualification proceedings were withdrawn. The Speaker has accepted it. What is wrong in this?” the judges asked, and also observed that there was no anti-defection proceeding pending against them, and subsequently dismissed the petition.
On May 13, 2026, Edappadi K Palaniswamy had submitted a petition to the Speaker seeking the disqualification of 25 MLAs who had violated the party whip by participating in and voting against the Vote of Confidence motion under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India. Four of the MLAs submitted their resignations as members to the Speaker on May 25.
Following this, EPS submitted a letter to the Speaker seeking to drop the disqualification proceedings against the remaining MLAs. The Speaker accepted the letter and dropped the proceedings.
Challenging the decision, PV Selvakumar, a voter from Tiruttani, filed a petition before the Madras High Court.