Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi leaves for Delhi amid proposed swearing-in of DMK's K Ponmudy as minister

Reports said that the government had written to the Raj Bhavan, requesting that the swearing-in ceremony be held on Thursday, a day after Ponmudy, an ex-minister convicted in an assets case by the Madras High Court.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Thursday left for Delhi, amid speculations that the DMK government wanted the swearing-in of K Ponmudy as minister today.

There was no immediate official word from the Raj Bhavan on Ravi's visit to the national capital.

Reports in a section of media said the government had written to the Raj Bhavan, requesting that the swearing-in ceremony be held on Thursday, a day after Ponmudy, an ex-minister convicted in an assets case by the Madras High Court, was reinstated as MLA.

He had been Higher Education Minister from May 2021, when the DMK government came to power, till his conviction.

Following the senior DMK leader's conviction in December last by the Madras High Court in a disproportionate assets case, the Tamil Nadu Assembly Secretariat declared his Tirukoyilur constituency as 'deemed to have become vacant' from the date of his conviction.

It issued a fresh notification dated March 13 to rescind the notification of March 5.

According to the new notification, an interim order of the Supreme Court dated March 11, 2024, suspended Ponmudy's conviction and following that, the Assembly Secretariat on Wednesday revoked the earlier one that declared the former minister's constituency vacant.