Chennai: In a major relief to the Edapaddi K Palaniswami government, the two- judge bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday gave a split verdict on the petitions challenging disqualification of 18 AIADMK MLAs loyal to Independent MLA T T V Dhinakaran, nephew of Sasikala who is presently cooling her heels in jail in a disproportionate-assets case.
In the highly awaited judgment Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee upheld the 18 September 2017 order of the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal disqualifying the MLAs, while Justice M Sunder disagree with her judgment and struck it down. The matter will now be heard by a third judge. The court has ordered that no floor test or bypolls can be conducted till its final order.
The AIADMK has 116 MLAs in the 234-seat House (including the Speaker). The Opposition has a strength of 98, including 89 MLAs of DMK, eight of Congress and one of the IUML. The disqualification of the MLAs has reduced the strength of the House to 216 members.
