The political impasse in Tamil Nadu caused by the split verdict of the Madras High Court delivered in June last in the disqualification of 18 AIADMK MLAs was resolved on Thursday as M Sathyanarayanan, the Supreme Court appointed third judge, upheld the validity of the order issued by the Speaker disqualifying the legislators under the provisions of the anti-defection law.
A division bench consisting of the then chief justice Indira Banerjee and M Sundar in June had delivered a split verdict while disposing of the petitions filed by the disqualified MLAs who pleaded for quashing the Speaker’s order. While Banerjee upheld the speaker’s order, Sundar set it aside on multiple grounds which necessitated the petition being heard by the third judge.
Justice Sathyanarayana, who heard the case in the months of July and August chose to concur with Justice Banerjee’s view. “In my opinion, the view taken by the Speaker (that the 18 MLAs had voluntarily given up membership of the AIADMK by giving representations to the Governor on August 22, 2017, withdrawing support to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami) is a possible, if not, plausible view,” justice Banerjee had said in
her order.
Thursday’s verdict by Sathyanarayana came as a temporary relief for the beleaguered Chief Minister Edappadi Planiswamy whose Government is surviving on a wafer thin majority in a House which has a total strength of 234 members. He ruling AIADMK has 116 members while 20 seats are vacant. The DMK-led opposition has 98 members including TTV Dhinakaran of
the AMMK.
There are some MLAs among the Edappady Palaniswamy camp who are likely to jump fence at the appropriate time adding to the woes of the Chief Minister. Hence the Government may survive without any problems till the Election Commission of India orders the by-elections to the assembly. Now that the process of election to the five state assemblies are on, chances of holding immediate by-elections in Tamil Nadu are unlikely.
The Palaniswamy Government too is not in the best of “health” as the CBI is probing corruption charges against the chief minister and senior bureaucrats in the Stat. Had the verdict been against the Speaker’s order, the government would have faced serious crisis. The AIADMK resembles a rudderless ship following the demise of its supremo J Jayalalithaa in December 2016 and the party is yet to find out a leader with charisma who could steer it through the troubled times.
While the AIADMK cadre rejoiced all over the State by bursting crackers and distributing sweets, the faction led by TTV Dhinakaran said they would study the court verdict before taking any decisions. Sources close to Dhinakaran said that he would meet the 18 MLAs on Saturday to take stock of the situation.
The opposition DMK said that the party was ready to face both the bye-elections as well as the mid-term poll to the assembly. “It is for the election Commission to decide the future course of action. We are ready for anything,” said M K Stalin, president, DMK.
Political commentators are of the view that though the court verdict has given breathing space to the AIADMK, it was only a temporary relief.
“Dhinakaran os breathing down the neck of Palaniswamy and company. Dhinakaran has been claiming about his sleeper cells in the AIADMK. Chances are that he is waiting for the right moment to strike. It is tough time for Palaniswamy,” said K A Johny, a keen observer of the AIADMK politics.