DMK plea against trust vote: Madras HC issues notices to Palaniswami, Speaker

The Madras high court on Monday issued notices to Tamil Nadu chief minister EK Palanisamy and the Speaker of the assembly to file counter affidavits by March 10 on the opposition party DMK’s plea challenging the CM’s trust vote.

The Madras high court on Monday issued notices to Tamil Nadu chief minister EK Palanisamy and the Speaker of the assembly to file counter affidavits by March 10 on the opposition party DMK’s plea challenging the CM’s trust vote.

Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami during his swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Chennai. (PTI File Photo)

The court also issued notices to the assembly speaker and the home secretary over the DMK’s petition challenging Palaniswami’s ascension to the chief ministerial post.

Palanisamy had won the trust vote 122-11 in the 234-member assembly, aided by the eviction of DMK leaders and a walkout by its allies, including the Congress party last Saturday.

The notices were issued by a bench consisting of acting chief Justice Huluvadi Ramesh and Justice R Mahadevan.

The DMK has 89 MLAs in the assembly. The division vote was taken up after two adjournments following chaos and uproar in the assembly as opposition MLAs insisted on a secret vote, which was rejected by Speaker P Dhanapal.

Earlier, the DMK moved a no-confidence motion against the assembly Speaker as the party’s working president MK Stalin accused the Speaker of harping on his community to malign the party.