Madras HC to hear DMK's plea challenging TN CM's floor test

The Madras High Court will on Monday resume its hearing in regard to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham's (DMK) petition challenging Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami's floor test.

The Madras High Court earlier on February 22 sought credible evidence to prove that the AIADMK MLAs were held captive in a resort in Kuvathoor and also the video evidence of the proceedings in the Tamil Nadu Assembly during the Chief Minister's trust vote.

Two separate pleas were filed by the DMK and advocate K. Balu, representing Advocates' Forum for Social Justice, asking the High Court to declare the trust vote as illegal.

During the hearing K. Balu argued that they have the evidence which showed that several rules were flouted during the trust vote.

He also said that they have the proof of several AIADMK MLAs alleging that they were held captive against their wishes at Golden Bay resort.

"We have proof that AIADMK MLAs were kept at Golden Bay resort for 11 days and also have a copy of the complaint filed by many MLAS in Kuvathoor police station alleging that they were held captive at the resort," Balu said.

In the petition, DMK working president M.K. Stalin has also sought a directive from High Court's to Assembly Speaker to conduct a fresh floor test through secret ballot test on the confidence motion moved by Palanisami.

He also asked for a monitoring committee consisting of the secretary to Governor, chief secretary and an official from the Election Commission of India to monitor the entire process.

Palanisami had won the trust vote 122-11 in the 234-member Assembly, aided by the eviction of DMK and walkout by its allies last Saturday.

DMK has 89 MLAs in the assembly. The division vote was taken up after two adjournments following uproarious scenes 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, with the party's working president and leader of opposition in the Assembly, MK Stalin accusing the Speaker of deliberately harping on his community to malign the party.