NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Madras High Court order which had restrained TVK MLA R Sreenivasa Sethupathi from participating in the floor test in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

"This is atrocious to say the least. The high court says the remedy is election petition but still entertains the Article 226 petition," a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi observed while hearing the plea.

Article 226 of the Constitution deals with power of high courts to issue certain writs.

The bench also stayed the proceeding pending before the high court in the matter.

Sethupathi had won the No.185 Tiruppattur assembly constituency in Sivagangai district by a margin of a single vote against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former minister K R Periakaruppan.

The apex court granted two weeks time to Periakaruppan and other respondents to file their counter affidavit on Sethupathi's plea.

Sethupathi has challenged the high court's interim order which restrained him from voting or otherwise participating in any floor test, confidence motion, no-confidence motion, trust vote or any proceeding where the numerical strength of the House is tested, pending further orders.

The C Joseph Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government on Wednesday won the vote of confidence.