Court has to intervene in disqualification of O Panneerselvam, say DMK

Chennai: Since the Speaker has failed to act according to the Constitution, the court has to interfere and act accordingly in connection with the disqualification of deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and 10 other MLAs, who voted against Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami when the confidence motion was moved in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly on February 18, 2017.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for DMK chief whip Sakkrapani, made this submission when a batch of petitions filed by Sakkrapani and four rebel MLAs, which sought to disqualify Panneerselvam and 10 other MLAs came up for hearing before the first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose on Tuesday.

He said Panneerselvam who had agreed through an affidavit before the Election Commission of India that a whip was issued, however submitted before the court that no such whip was issued. The Speaker who has to act as the leader of the House has acted like a member of a political party, he added. Senior Counsel P.S. Raman, appearing for Vetrivel, Rangasamy, Parthiban and Thanga Thamizhselvam submitted that the order of the whip was not confined to some MLAs but to all MLAs of the party. As per a judgment of the Supreme Court, those who defy the order of the whip can be disqualified. The high court has the jurisdiction to pass orders for disqualification, he added. After the conclusion of the arguments from both sides, as requested by the parties, the bench posted the matter to March 5 for filing written submissions.