DMK whip files HC motion to disqualify O Panneerselvam

A week after Tamil Nadu Assembly speaker disqualified 18 rebel MLAs from AIADMK, R Sakkarapani, the DMK whip, has approached the Madras high court to seek a direction for the speaker to begin the disqualification proceedings against deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam. He has also called for the disqualification of 10 other MLAs who voted against the confidence motion moved by CM Edappadi K Palaniswami on February 18.

Moving an urgent writ petition during the Dussehra vacation, Sakkarapani said that Speaker Dhanapal has not even issued a notice on the petition for disqualification filed on March 20 against Panneerselvam, Minister Ma Foi K Pandiarajan, and nine other legislators of AIADMK, which would have been in accordance with the provision of the tenth schedule of the Constitution and the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Rules for defying the party-line whip issued by the chief government whip.

The DMK whip claimed that 11 MLAs went against the party whip to vote opposing the confidence motion, while MLA Arunkumar abstained from voting without permission. He noted that Pandiarajan, who had moved the Supreme Court, challenging the manner in which the trust motion was defeated on a voice vote instead of holding a secret ballot, had withdrawn the case after the CM inducted him and Panneerselvam in the cabinet last month.