18 disqualified MLAs +

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Wednesday extended its stay on conduct of a floor test in Tamil Nadu assembly till further orders. It also restrained the Election Commission of India from issuing election notification to the 18 constituencies declared vacant pursuant to the disqualification of the rebel MLAs on Monday.Justice M Duraiswamy passed the interim order on the pleas moved byassailing the order of Speaker P Dhanapal.The interim order was passed based on the consent given by both parties -- the speaker’s and the MLAs sides -- not to conduct the floor test.Defending the MLAs, senior counsel Dushyant Dave said, "No MLA had defected to any bother party and so the penalty action against them under anti-defection law is untenable. The speaker had failed to keep in mind the Supreme Court ruling in the BS Yeddyurappa case."They had been unlawfully stripped of their posts only to enable the Edappadi K Palaniswami government to sail through confidence motion, he added.Reiterating that the anti-defection had been illegally invoked, Dave said the MLAs had merely given a representation to the Tamil Nadu governor expressing lack of confidence in the chief minister.The MLAs in question neither voluntarily gave up their posts nor denied whip, and yet they were disqualified because the speaker failed to try and ascertain the truth, argued Dave.“Speaker is not above law, and he too is bound to act within the Constitution,” he said, adding that the speaker in this case had acted like a political person.“People sitting in Delhi are deciding the affairs of Tamil Nadu,” he said.To this, speaker's senior counsel Aryama Sundaram said it would not be fair to blame or bring the Centre into the controversy.Recording the submissions, the court passed the interim order and posted the pleas to October 4 for further hearing.