Chennai
In a huge relief to the AIADMK government, the Madras High Court today upheld the June 14 order of the then Chief Justice Indira Banerjee disqualifying its 18 rebel MLAs loyal to sidelined leader TTV Dhinakaran.

An adverse judgment could have triggered a political realignment in Tamil Nadu and brought the ruling party perilously close to losing majority in the state Assembly whose effective strength is 232. Two seats are vacant.
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 K Palaniswami.

A Division Bench comprising Banerjee and Justice M Sundar had delivered a split verdict on June 14. Banerjee had upheld Speaker P Dhanapal’s order disqualifying them, while Sundar had passed a dissenting judgment. The Supreme Court had then appointed Justice M Sathyanarayanan to hear the matter.

Justice Sathyanarayanan today said there was no infirmity in Dhanapal’s order which was upheld by Banerjee.

“All 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,” the judge observed, upholding the disqualification.

The judge said he had delivered his “independent view” on the matter and not gone by those expressed by the two judges who heard it earlier.

The verdict came as a massive relief for the Palaniswami government as the restoration of the membership of the rebel MLAs could have set off a realignment in the state’s politics with the Dhinakaran camp likely joining hands with the Opposition DMK and bringing it dangerously close to losing majority.