CHENNAI: The Secretariat has issued notices to four former AIADMK MLAs who voted in favour of the TVK-led government during the confidence motion and later resigned from their Assembly memberships.
Speaker JCD Prabhakar said notices were served to the four former legislators, K Maragatham Kumaravel, P Sathyabama, S Jayakumar and Esakki Subaya, on June 9, seeking their response to allegations raised by the AIADMK leadership against them.
The speaker said the former MLAs had been directed to submit their replies within seven days of receiving the notices. They are required to respond by June 16.
"The notices seek their explanation regarding the allegations levelled by the AIADMK leadership. A final decision on the matter will be made after their responses are received and examined," the speaker said.
The issue assumes significance as the four legislators had supported the ruling TVK government during the trust vote before subsequently resigning from the Assembly. It may be noted that 25 of the 47 AIADMK MLAs voted in favour of the confidence motion, violating the party whip. Later, 21 MLAs, including former minister C Ve Shanmugam and SP Velumani, apologised to party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami for their actions.
The party leadership condoned their actions, and the speaker on June 9 dropped disqualification proceedings initiated against the 21 legislators.