In a turnaround amid the ongoing political crisis in Tamil Nadu, state Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal disqualified 18 dissident MLAs of the AIADMK who were supporting sidelined party deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran.
The MLAs were disqualified under Schedule 10 of the Indian Constitution which speaks about the anti-defection law.
The decision follows the Speaker’s notice to the MLAs after the Chief Government Whip recommended that the dissident MLAs be disqualified.
“The speaker has taken action under schedule 10 of the constitution and therefore the following MLAs are disqualified and therefore they lose their MLA post,” said a statement issued by Assembly Secretary K Boopathy on Monday morning.
The MLAs disqualified are S Thangatamilselvan (Andipatti), R Murugan (Harur), S Mariappan Kennedy (Manamadurai), K Kadirkamu (Periyakulam), Jayanthi Padmanabhan (Gudiyattam), P Palaniappan (Pappireddypatti), V Senthil Balaji (Aravakurichi), S Muthiah (Paramakudi), P Vetrivel (Perambur), N G Pathiban (Sholingur), M Kodandapani (Tiruporur), T A Elumalai (Poonamallee), M Rengasamy (Thanjavur), R Thangadurai (Nilakottai), R Balasubramani (Ambur), S G Subramanian (Sattur), R Sundaraj (Ottapidaram) and Uma Maheswari (Vilathikulam).
On August 24, the Speaker had sent a notice to the legislators asking them to show cause why they should not be disqualified for having declared their withdrawal of support to Chief Minister E Palaniswami.
