<div align="justify">The Opposition DMK approached the Madras High Court on Monday challenging the confidence vote in Tamil Nadu Assembly which confirmed Edappadi K Palaniswami as chief minister.<br /><br />The petition, filed by DMK working president M K Stalin, asked the court to declare null and void the vote on Saturday, which took place after all DMK MLAs had been evicted from the House following violence.<br /><br />The DMK had earlier complained to the governor about the manner in which the voting took place.Palaniswami, a loyalist of jailed AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala, had won the trust vote with 122 party MLAs backing him.<br /><br />The DMK petition said the entire proceedings were held in the absence of Opposition parties and urged the court to protect the spirit of democracy and the Constitution.<br /><br />In his plea, which will come up for hearing on Tuesday, Stalin said after nullifying the vote, the court should also order fresh voting through secret ballot.<br /><br />The petition argued that in 1988, the then governor had declared the vote on a confidence motion invalid, after the Speaker ordered it when just the two factions of the ruling party were present in the House.<br /><br />DMK advocate and Rajya Sabha member R Shanmugasundaram mentioned the Assembly incidents before the court in the morning and sought an urgent hearing. Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice R Mahadevan then told him to file a petition so that it could be heard on Tuesday morning.</div>
<div align="justify">The Opposition DMK approached the Madras High Court on Monday challenging the confidence vote in Tamil Nadu Assembly which confirmed Edappadi K Palaniswami as chief minister.<br /><br />The petition, filed by DMK working president M K Stalin, asked the court to declare null and void the vote on Saturday, which took place after all DMK MLAs had been evicted from the House following violence.<br /><br />The DMK had earlier complained to the governor about the manner in which the voting took place.Palaniswami, a loyalist of jailed AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala, had won the trust vote with 122 party MLAs backing him.<br /><br />The DMK petition said the entire proceedings were held in the absence of Opposition parties and urged the court to protect the spirit of democracy and the Constitution.<br /><br />In his plea, which will come up for hearing on Tuesday, Stalin said after nullifying the vote, the court should also order fresh voting through secret ballot.<br /><br />The petition argued that in 1988, the then governor had declared the vote on a confidence motion invalid, after the Speaker ordered it when just the two factions of the ruling party were present in the House.<br /><br />DMK advocate and Rajya Sabha member R Shanmugasundaram mentioned the Assembly incidents before the court in the morning and sought an urgent hearing. Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice R Mahadevan then told him to file a petition so that it could be heard on Tuesday morning.</div>
