The Madras High Court upheld Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar’s decision to accept the resignations of six AIADMK MLAs who defected to the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
The MLAs are Maragatham Kumaravel, Sathyabama, Isakki Subbaiah, Jayakumar, MR Vijayabhaskar and C Vijayabhaskar.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan partly allowed a batch of writ petitions filed by AIADMK whip Agri SS Krishnamurthy challenging the Speaker’s order. The resignations were accepted between May 26 and June 29, 2026.
The Bench ruled that the acceptance of the resignations was constitutionally valid and that no roving inquiry was necessary. It also clarified that disqualification proceedings against the MLAs could continue.
The petitioners alleged that the resignations had been accepted without a proper inquiry while disqualification proceedings against the legislators were still pending.
The disqualification petitions were filed over allegations that the six MLAs had voted in support of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government in violation of the party whip.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar had earlier accepted the resignations of the six AIADMK MLAs. Subsequently, AIADMK whip Agri S.S. Krishnamurthy and National People’s Power Party leader Ravi filed petitions seeking to quash the Speaker’s order accepting their resignations. The cases were heard by a Bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan.
The petitioners alleged that the Speaker had not conducted a meaningful inquiry and also referred to a complaint submitted to the Governor alleging horse-trading. The MLAs who resigned, however, argued that resigning from one party and joining another was part of democratic politics.
The Assembly Secretary’s counsel submitted that the Speaker could not refuse to accept an MLA’s resignation if it had been submitted voluntarily.
Meanwhile, by-elections were held in the Maduranthakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies after former AIADMK legislators Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabhama, respectively, resigned to join Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
According to the Election Commission, TVK candidate P. Sathyabhama won the Dharapuram by-election with 66,841 votes, while K. Maragatham Kumaravel secured victory in Maduranthakam. Both candidates contested under the TVK’s whistle symbol and retained their respective seats by significant margins over their DMK and AIADMK rivals.
With ANI inputs…
