Tamil Nadu crisis: Madras HC to hear petitions filed by 18 disqualified AIADMK MLAs on Wednesday

18 disqualified AIADMK MLAs have knocked on the door of Madras High Court to challenge their disqualification. 

The MLAs from Dhinakaran-Sasikala camp, who were expelled from the party under anti-defection and disqualification rules, were on Tuesday allowed by the court to file individual writ petitions and get the cases listed for hearing on Wednesday.

The permission was granted after Senior Counsel PR Raman, representing the disqualified MLAs, made a request to the judge for taking up the cases on Wednesday itself in view of the urgency involved in the issue.

The MLAs who have been disqualified include Thangatamilselvan, R Murugan, Mariappan Kennedy, K Kathirkamu, C Jayanthi Padmanabhan, P Palaniappan, V Senthil Balaji, S Muthiah, P Vetrivel, NG Parthiban, M Kothandapani, TA Elumalai, M Rengasamy, R Thangadurai, R Balasubramani, SG Subramanian, R Sundarraj and K Uma Maheswari.

Read | DMK leader Stalin on disqualified AIADMK MLAs: 'Speaker has done deliberately to reduce majority of Assembly'

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Governor C Vidyasagar Rao on Tuesday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, a day after 18 rebel AIADMK MLAs loyal to sidelined leader TTV Dhinakaran were disqualified under the anti-defection law. 

During the 20-minute meeting, the governor is believed to have apprised the home minister about the current political developments in the southern state, officials said. The disqualified MLAs had on Monday told the governor that they had no confidence in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami, and accused him of being corrupt.

Incidentally, a writ petition filed by DMK Working President M.K. Stalin last week is also coming up for hearing before Mr. Justice Duraiswamy on Wednesday. In that case, Stalin had urged the court to order a floor test forthwith.

Passing an interim order in that case last week, the court had restrained the Governor and Speaker from holding the floor test till Wednesday without obtaining necessary orders from the court on that day.

The order was passed after Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal apprehended that the "minority government" would try to convert itself in to an "artificial majority" by disqualifying the rebel MLAs and then holding a floor test.

Read | AIADMK row: Setback for Dhinakaran, TN Assembly Speaker disqualifies 18 rebel MLAs