A Madras High Court bench has agreed to hear a petition filed by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), challenging the Trust Vote in the state Assembly on Saturday. The petition claims that the Trust Vote held is a ‘nullity’, and will be heard by the court on Tuesday.
On February 19, the Tamil Nadu Assembly saw two adjournments following disruption of proceedings by the opposition and members of the O Panneerselvam faction of AIADMK. The Speaker was reportedly manhandled, following which the 88 DMK MLAs present in the session were evicted. Edappadi Palaniswami then emerged victorious and retained his position as Chief Minister in the Trust Vote that followed.
The DMK is now contesting the legality of the motion and eviction of its members from the Assembly. “The vote of confidence held in the Assembly on Saturday is a nullity because the resolution was introduced twice,” said DMK spokesperson and lawyer Saravanan. “In addition to this, DMK leaders were illegally evicted from the Assembly,” he said.
Senior advocate Shanmugasundaram will be representing the DMK, while a bench consisting of Justice Ramesh and Justice Mahadevan will be hearing the petition. DMK leaders who were evicted from the Assembly had claimed that they were manhandled and went on to protest in front of the Gandhi statue in Marina beach. They were later detained by the police.
Source: The News Minute