The Tamil Nadu assembly on Tuesday adopted an unanimous resolution asking the President to reconsider mercy petitions of three death row convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
The resolution moved by chief minister Jayalalithaa appealed to the President to commute the death sentences of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan into life sentences.
Moving the resolution, Jayalalithaa said the people of the state were "saddened" by the fact that the death sentence to the three was to be executed soon.
Jayalalithaa, who had on Monday expressed her inability to intervene on the issue, said, "Many political parties have appealed to me to commute death sentences and in order to respect the sentiments of the people of the state, I appeal to the members of the house to pass the resolution unanimously".
The chief minister said she told the state assembly on Monday that only the President could reconsider the decision of rejecting the mercy petitions as the state Governor could not take a decision on a mercy plea rejected by the President.