Tamil Nadu speaker drops disqualification proceedings against 21 rebel AIADMK MLAs who backed TVK

Announcing his decision, the Speaker said he had received four letters from Palaniswami condoning the actions of the 21 MLAs who voted contrary to the party's directive during the vote of the C. Joseph Vijay-led government.

Chennai: In a significant development for the AIADMK, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar on Tuesday withdrew disqualification proceedings against 21 party MLAs who had voted in favour of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay during the trust vote held on May 13. The decision comes as a setback for AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who had faced internal dissent after a section of the party's legislators defied the official party whip during the confidence motion.

Announcing his decision, the Speaker said he had received four letters from Palaniswami condoning the actions of the 21 MLAs who voted contrary to the party's directive during the vote of C. Joseph Vijay-led government.

“Following the receipt of four letters from AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami condoning the conduct of 21 rebel MLAs who voted contrary to the direction issued by party whip during the vote of confidence of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay-led government on May 13, I have accepted those letters and withdrawn proceedings under the Tenth Schedule against them,” Prabhakar said.

The Speaker, however, clarified that proceedings against four rebel legislators who had submitted their resignations are still underway. He said action concerning those four MLAs has already begun and a decision on their cases will be taken at a later stage.

This is a developing story.