Fair and square: On the Tamil Nadu Speaker, MLAs, disqualification proceedings

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar has followed democratic principles by deciding not to pursue disqualification proceedings against 21 AIADMK MLAs after the party’s general secretary, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, condoned the actions of the rebel legislators. Contrary to their party’s whip, the MLAs had supported the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led government during the trust vote on May 13. Mr. Prabhakar also stood by his assurance, made on May 24, that his eventual decision would demonstrate his impartiality. Actually, 25 MLAs of the Dravidian major had violated the party’s directive and favoured the new regime but four of them including two women legislators subsequently resigned their seats. This is why the Speaker’s action pertained only to 21 MLAs, after receiving letters from Mr. Palaniswami stating that he had condoned the dissidents’ violation of the party whip. As the official group and the rebels reached a truce on May 27, the AIADMK chief decided to condone the dissidents’ actions within 15 days from the date of such voting, as prescribed under the Tenth Schedule and the Tamil Nadu Assembly’s disqualification rules.