SC to hear transfer plea relating to AIADMK MLAs' disqualification

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear on November 13 a plea by a AIADMK leader for transfer to the apex court, petitions before the Madras High Court seeking disqualification of 11 MLAs of Tamil Nadu.

The matter was mentioned before a bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar and S Abdul Nazeer by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi.

Rohatgi said a similar matter, if direction could be issued to Speaker for disqualification of MLAs, was already before the top court and referred to a larger bench for adjudication.

DMK had approached the Madras High Court seeking direction to the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker to disqualify 11 AIADMK MLAs, including Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, under the anti-defection law for allegedly voting against Chief Minister K Palaniswami's trust vote in February.

In its plea before the high court, the DMK had alleged that the Speaker was not taking action against these 11 MLAs under the anti-defection law.

On February 18, jailed AIADMK leader V K Sasikala's loyalist E K Palaniswami had won an easy trust vote by 122-11, helped by the eviction of main Opposition DMK and a walkout by its allies, amid stormy scenes during which mikes were uprooted, chairs toppled and sheets of papers torn and hurled around.