Resigning and becoming a minister is part of political process: SC rejects writ petition on AIADMK MLAs who joined TVK

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a writ petition concerning AIADMK MLAs who resigned and joined Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) after the 2026 Assembly elections.

Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed that a legislator resigning and becoming a minister is part of the political process. Counsel for the petitioner pointed to an FIR already registered in the matter and argued that there is a vacuum in the Tenth Schedule, the anti-defection law that deals with disqualification. Justice Bagchi said the FIR should be investigated and that the law would take its course, reported Bar & Bench.

The dispute traces back to the confidence motion moved by the new TVK-led government. Twenty-five AIADMK MLAs voted in favour of the government, and disqualification proceedings under the Tenth Schedule began on May 14. Four of them, S Jayakumar of Perundurai, K Maragatham Kumaravel of Maduranthakam, P Sathyabama of Dharapuram and Esakki Subaya of Ambasamudram, resigned as MLAs and joined the TVK on May 25 and 26. The petitioners said the Speaker accepted the resignations the same day, which was also the day the MLAs joined the TVK.

AIADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswami later asked the Speaker to drop the proceedings against the remaining 21 MLAs, and the Speaker accepted the request. Two more AIADMK MLAs, C Vijayabhaskar and MR Vijayabhaskar, then resigned from the party. Six resignations in all were challenged before the Madras High Court.

A separate plea in the Supreme Court in June sought a CBI probe into alleged horse-trading, naming TVK general secretary N Anand and four former AIADMK MLAs. The Madras High Court had earlier dismissed a PIL seeking a CBI probe into the four MLAs’ induction into the TVK, finding no material to show they resigned for money, political office or other illegal inducement.

On the main challenge, a bench of Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan upheld Speaker JCD Prabhakar’s acceptance of the six resignations. The court also said the resignations would not bar disqualification proceedings against the MLAs. It directed the Speaker to conclude the pending proceedings within two months of the judgment.

The Supreme Court had already dealt with a related matter on October 10. It declined to entertain a petition against the Speaker’s decision to drop proceedings against 21 AIADMK MLAs, questioning whether the petitioner had standing since he was neither a legislator nor an authorised representative. The court left the questions of law open for an appropriate proceeding.