The Madras High Court on Monday appointed Justice S Vimala to hear the pleas against the disqualification of 18 rebel MLAs of Tamil Nadu’s ruling party after two judges gave a split verdict last week, PTI reported. On June 14, Chief Justice Indira Banerjee had upheld the disqualification, while Justice M Sundar disagreed.

Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh, the second senior-most judge of the High Court, appointed Vimala to hear the pleas, unidentified officials told PTI. Despite being the chief justice, Banerjee decided against choosing the third judge as she had herself heard the matter.

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In September 2017, Tamil Nadu Speaker P Dhanapal disqualified 18 MLAs of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam after they backed ousted party leader TTV Dinakaran. Dhanapal took the decision under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, popularly known as the anti-defection law.

Their disqualification brought the Assembly’s effective strength down to 215 and the half-way mark to 108. If the MLAs are reinstated, the AIADMK government headed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami could collapse.

The 18 MLAs are now supporting TTV Dinakaran, who has formed his own political outfit, the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam. He had won the RK Nagar bye-elections in December, necessitated by the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, by a huge margin.

There has been constant political bickering in the state after AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa died in December 2016. In February 2017, after O Panneerselvam had rebelled against VK Sasikala and quit as chief minister and the latter was convicted in a disproportionate assets case, high drama gripped the state. A trust vote was held for MLAs to choose between the AIADMK factions, and Sasikala’s nominee Palaniswami. The DMK was evicted from the House during the vote, which ensured an easy win for Palaniswami. However, Palaniswami later swtiched sides and joined hands with the Panneerselvam faction.