Most ‘sacked’ MLAs may prefer to wait for court order to facing bypoll

Among the 18 MLAs, eight of them are from the northern districts and two from the delta region where Dhinakaran is yet to establish a hold over the people. One of the seats, Perambur, lies in the heart of the city and AIADMK nominee P Vetrivel just scraped through by a margin of 519 votes in the 2016 Assembly elections. Thirupporur and Poonamalee fall in the neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. The victory margin for the AIADMK in Thirupporur is only 950 votes.

Three of the seats Ambur, Gudiyatham and Sholingur comes under Vellore district, while Pappireddipatti and Harur lies in Dharmapuri. Besides, the principal opposition DMK, the PMK too has good presence in Sholingur, Pappireddipatti and Harur. Two of the seats Thanjavur and Aravakurichi fall in the delta region which is also a stronghold of the DMK.

So far, the DMK had not responded to the developments and the main opposition’s silence indicating lack of zeal is certain to bring down the spirit among most of the disqualified legislators who will become more reluctant to follow Thangathamizhselvan’s route.

Commenting on withdrawal of the case and facing fresh elections, Vetrivel said most of the disqualified MLAs think facing elections would be favourable to the DMK, clearly indicating that the principal opposition party would win the by-polls if such an option is forced.

He also said there would be procedural difficulties and delay in withdrawing the case. Besides, it is not clear if a disqualified legislator could contest elections again and legal hurdles could be placed when they file their nominations for the by-polls. Vetrivel felt that the third judge could not take much time and it would be better to wait for the final judgment.

The ruling AIADMK feels that Dhinakaran is just testing the legal and political fallout of a possible withdrawal of the disqualification case by allowing Thangathamizhselvan to go for it.

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar, reacting to the developments said Dhinakaran is testing the political waters through Thangathamizhselvan.