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Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar ought to person conducted a “meaningful inquiry” earlier accepting the resignations of 4 AIADMK MLAs, who subsequently joined the TVK, AIADMK whip Agri S.S. Krishnamurthy contended earlier the Madras High Court connected Wednesday (June 17, 2026).
Filing a mates of writ petitions challenging the gazette notifications issued connected May 25 and May 26 notifying the acceptance of the resignations of the 4 MLAs, the AIADMK whip claimed that the Speaker had accepted them “with singular haste and without immoderate meaninful enquiry oregon exertion of mind.”
First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan ordered notice, returnable by June 29, to the Assembly Secretary aft proceeding preliminary arguments precocious by elder counsel V. Giri for the petitioner and Advocate General Vijay Narayan for the Assembly Secretary.
In his affidavit, the writ petitioner said, the law mandate governing specified resignations was embodied nether Article 190(3)(b). He pointed retired that a proviso to the Article intelligibly states that the Speaker indispensable not judge a resignation if helium was satisfied, pursuant to an inquiry, that it was not voluntary oregon genuine.
“This proviso enshrines a substantive law safeguard, requiring the Speaker to get astatine an autarkic and nonsubjective restitution regarding the voluntariness and genuineness of the resignation. The operation ‘if the Speaker is satisfied’ is not conscionable a hollow formality oregon a meaningless ritual but imposes a solemn law work demanding owed inquiry, conscious exertion of caput and adherence to principles of fairness,” the petitioner said.
He went connected to state: “In the contiguous case, the lack of immoderate discernible enquiry renders specified restitution illusory and vitiates the full determination making process... The series of events unmistakably reveals that the resignations were neither voluntary nor bona fide. The Members (the 4 erstwhile MLAs), instantly upon tendering their resignations, were inducted into the ruling governmental party, thereby establishing a premeditated plan to evade disqualification.”
In his submissions, Mr. Giri brought to the announcement of the tribunal that the 4 MLAs were portion of a larger radical of 25 MLAs who had defied the AIADMK whip and voted successful favour of the ballot of assurance moved by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay connected the level of the Legislative Assembly connected May 13, 2026.
Therefore, the AIADMK wide caput Edappadi K. Palaniswami had submitted a petition earlier the Speaker connected the aforesaid time urging him to disqualify the 25 MLAs nether paragraphs 2(1)(a)/(b) and 6 of Schedule X to the Constitution for having voluntarily fixed up the enactment rank by voting against the whip.
On May 14, 2025, Mr. Palaniswami had submitted a practice to the Governor complaining astir the behaviour of the 25 MLAs and accusing them of having derived pecuniary advantage.
When matters stood thus, 3 of those MLAs – Maragatham Kumaravel, S. Jayakumar, and P. Sathyabama elected from Madurantakam, Perundurai and Dharapuram constituencies respectively – submitted their resignations to the Speaker connected May 25, 2026, and 1 much MLA E. Subaya alias Esakki Subaya representing Ambasamudram constituency resigned connected May 26, 2026.
“The archetypal 3 MLAs submitted their resignations to the Speaker astatine astir 2.30 p.m. connected May 25, 2026. Then, they were not unsocial but accompanied by a batallion of people. Immediately thereafter, they went to the chambers of Minister for Public Works and Sports Development Aadhav Arjuna, who is besides the wide caput of the TVK, successful the Secretariat and they were formally inducted successful that party. Subsquently, the Speaker announced to the property astatine 3.55 p.m. that the resignations person been accepted and those 3 individuals met the Chief Minister excessively astatine 4.20 p.m. All this was telecast unrecorded connected tv channels,” the elder counsel said.
Submitting photographs of the events earlier the court, Mr. Giri said, “The information that the resignations were fixed astatine 2.30 p.m. and accepted astatine 3.55 p.m. shows that determination is simply a sham of compliance of the procedures acceptable retired successful the Constitution. These resignations person travel connected the committedness of respective things and truthful the Speaker indispensable person conducted an enquiry earlier accepting them.... The Speaker has to show earlier this tribunal that helium did behaviour an inquiry. This was a fertile crushed for equine trading due to the fact that they [TVK] did not person the requisite numbers to beryllium bulk connected the level of the Assembly. If this tribunal comes to the decision that the acceptance of the resignations was wrong, the gazette notifications volition person to beryllium acceptable aside.”
