The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking urgent hearing of its plea for the disqualification of 11 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLAs, who voted against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in a confidence motion in 2017, PTI reported. The MLAs included Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said it will consider listing the matter for urgent hearing. The Madras High Court had in April last year dismissed the DMK’s plea seeking to disqualify the MLAs.
The MLAs had voted against Palaniswami at a time of strife in the AIADMK, when there were two opposing camps, led by Palaniswami and Panneerselvam. This happened after Panneerselvam had rebelled against former AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala, following the death of former AIADMK chief and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
However, the two factions merged later that year, and Palaniswami took oath as the chief minister, with Paneerselvam becoming his deputy.
The DMK now has 101 MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, while the AIADMK has 123. The majority mark in the Assembly is 118.
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