Madras HC Extends Stay On Floor Test Or Notification For Election To 18 TN Assembly Seats [Read Order]

The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered that no floor test be conducted in the State Assembly or any election notification be issued for the 18 seats that fell vacant after the disqualification of MLAs by the Speaker when they expressed lack of faith in Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Justice M Duraiswamy issued the order after discussion and with consent of counsel of all parties concerned, including Dushyant Dave for the disqualified MLAs, counsel for the Speaker, MK Stalin and the Chief Minister.

The senior counsel on either side submitted that the earlier order passed by the court on September 14, directing the respondents therein not to conduct the floor test for the trust vote till this day, may be continued until further orders of this court.

In view of the submissions made by the senior counsel on either side, the court ordered:

(i) The respondents shall not conduct floor test for the trust vote until further orders of this court;

(ii) There shall not be any election notification for conducting the election for the 18 Legislative Assembly Constituencies.

The order comes on a batch of petitions filed by the 18 MLAs challenging their disqualification.

The MLAs, owing allegiance to ousted AIADMK deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran, were disqualified by Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal after they submitted letters to the Governor expressing lack of confidence in CM Edappadi K Palaniswami.