Madras High Court upholds Speaker's decision to not disqualify 21 AIADMK MLAs

The Madras High Court upheld Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar's decision to drop disqualification proceedings against 21 of the 25 AIADMK MLAs who cross-voted in favour of the TVK in the House. A bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan ruled that since the AIADMK condoned the act of the members and they continued to represent the party, disqualification under Paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution does not survive. The bench dismissed a PIL filed by advocate PV Selvakumar of Tiruttani seeking to revive the disqualification proceedings on the ground that the members who cross-voted had voluntarily given up their membership.