High Court upholds order disqualifying 18 rebel AIADMK MLAs
Chennai, Oct 25 : The Madras High Court today upheld the June 14 order of the then Chief Justice disqualifying 18 rebel AIADMK MLAs, in a huge relief to the K Palaniswami government.
Justice M Sathyanarayanan heard the pleas of the rival parties after a bench of then Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar gave a split verdict on June 14.
The 18 disqualified MLAs are loyal to the sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, who has now formed his own party --the AMMK.
Justice Sathyanarayanan said there was no infirmity in the order of the Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal, which was upheld by Banerjee.
"All the material that were available at the time of passing of the order by the Speaker alone have been taken into consideration and this court cannot go into the subsequent events," he observed while upholding their disqualification.
The 18 AIADMK MLAs were disqualified on September 18 last year under the anti-defection law after they met the governor and expressed loss of confidence in Chief Minister Palaniswami.
Following the split verdict, with Banerjee upholding the disqualification and Sundar setting it aside, Justice S Vimala was appointed to hear the petitions afresh.
However, the Supreme Court named Justice Sathyanarayanan to hear the matter, while declining to accept a prayer of the disqualified MLAs who raised apprehension of "bias". They had sought the matter to be transferred to the apex court.
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Party remains robust, will bounce back, says DMK
Chennai (PTI): Dismissing the shock defeat in the Assembly election as nothing unusual in a democracy, the DMK on Wednesday said it has seen several ups and downs in its long history and asserted that the party workers and office-bearers continue to be energetic and are committed to continuing the good work for people's welfare.
Tracing the party's chequered history, DMK Organisation Secretary RS Bharathi said in 1991 Assembly polls, only the party's late patriarch M Karunanidhi and Parithi Ilamvazhuthi won from Harbour and Egmore segments respectively out of the 234 constituencies in the state.
"So, who can forget 1991? That year we lost. But we bounced back and formed the government in 1996. In our long history of over 7 decades we have seen lots of ups and downs and party workers show determination and continue the good work even when out of power," the DMK leader told PTI.
He said the difference in vote share between his party (24.19 per cent) and the "winning party" (34.92 per cent) is not "very wide."
Bharathi expressed confidence about the party bouncing back and once again emerging victorious.
He and others cited the message of DMK President M K Stalin, thanking the people and asserting that ideology was important rather than victories and defeats alone.
On May 4, the DMK chief asserted that he had seen in his public life, lot of victories and defeats as well. Hence, it is the goal and ideology that was paramount and not merely electoral victories and defeats.
The DMK, which worked efficiently as the ruling party, would from now on work effectively as the main opposition party.
He had further said: "I was truthful to all sections of people; I acted as per conscience, worked beyond my capacity."
Stalin said: "I bow to people's verdict, DMK worked well as ruling party, from now on will be good opposition party. DMK's political journey will continue without any slackness."
When votes were counted on May 4, actor-politician Vijay's TVK created a record of sorts in the electoral history of Tamil Nadu and emerged as the single largest party by delivering a shock defeat to incumbent DMK and its president, Chief Minister Stalin in his Kolathur constituency, while the AIADMK was pushed to a distant third spot.
Vijay and TVK have many firsts to their credit and the party founder will be the first person from a minority religion -Christianity- to helm the state. The assembly election was held on April 23 in Tamil Nadu.
கழகத் தலைவர் மு.க.ஸ்டாலின் அவர்களின் அறிக்கை
— DMK (@arivalayam) May 5, 2026
நடந்து முடிந்த தமிழ்நாடு சட்டமன்றப் பொதுத் தேர்தலில் திராவிட முன்னேற்றக் கழகத்தின் தலைமையிலான மதச்சார்பற்ற முற்போக்குக் கூட்டணிக் கட்சியின் வேட்பாளர்களுக்கு வாக்களித்த தமிழ்நாட்டு மக்கள் அனைவருக்கும் எனது மனமார்ந்த நன்றியை உண்மை… pic.twitter.com/LQtrACGK0z
