Supreme Court backs T.N. Speaker’s decision to drop disqualification proceedings against AIADMK MLAs - The HinduPublished - October 10, 2026 12:32 am IST - NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court on Friday (October 9, 2026) declined to intervene in the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker’s decision to close disqualification proceedings against a group of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) legislators who had supported C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led government during the trust vote in May. The court observed that the Speaker’s decision could not be challenged by an “interloper”.A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana dismissed a plea filed by advocate P.V. Selvakumar, while observing that the sanctity of the constitutional mandate under the Tenth Schedule, which contains the anti-defection law, must be preserved.“We are fully with you that sanctity of constitutional mandate must be preserved. But we must understand workings of a democratic system,” the Bench said.Mr. Selvakumar approached the Supreme Court after the Madras High Court rejected his petition challenging the Speaker’s June 9 decision to drop the disqualification proceedings against the AIADMK legislators.Party leader’s letterThe Speaker had acted on a May 27 letter from the party’s general secretary seeking withdrawal of the proceedings. The High Court had held that Mr. Selvakumar, being a third party to the dispute, had no locus standi to interfere in the internal affairs of the AIADMK.Advocate Nina Nariman, appearing for Mr. Selvakumar, argued that once the Speaker had entertained the disqualification petition, the proceedings ought to have been taken to their logical conclusion. The legislators, she submitted, had defied the party whip by supporting the government in the confidence vote.The Bench, however, drew a distinction between defection and differences that may arise within a political party in a multi-party democracy. “We have a multi-party system. One can say I prefer party C to be in power than party B. If the party had made an application, we could appreciate. But here, it appears you are at best an opportunistic interloper or at best a conscientious person adhering to minority philosophy,” it said.It also said the AIADMK itself had chosen not to pursue action against the legislators. “Also look at the burden. If one party could not muster the courage and missed by a very thin margin, if nobody supports, what will be the consequence? There will be fresh elections... Once a political party absolves defection due to political purpose, it will be difficult for us to bind them down in narrow legalistic terms,” the Bench said.It further said that although the legislators may have voted contrary to the party whip and thereby enabled the government to survive the confidence vote, they had not ceased to be members of the AIADMK. The court subsequently dismissed the plea.The High Court had in August held that the AIADMK general secretary’s decision to condone the conduct of 21 legislators brought the disqualification proceedings against them to an end.“The moment the general secretary of the political party submitted a letter dated May 27, 2026, to the Speaker condoning the act of the 21 members, the question of their disqualification either under Paragraph 2(1)(a) or 2(1)(b) does not arise and the Speaker rightly dropped the disqualification proceedings,” a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan had held.The controversy arose after 25 AIADMK legislators defied the party whip and supported the TVK government during the May 13 confidence vote.The TVK, which had secured 108 seats in the Assembly elections, won the trust vote with the backing of 144 legislators in the 234-member House.Published - October 10, 2026 12:32 am ISTSign in to unlock member-only benefits!Access 10 free stories every monthSave stories to read laterAccess to comment on every storySign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single clickGet notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products${ ind + 1 } ${ device }Last active - ${ la }