Six DMDK MLAs, who were suspended from the State Assembly in March this year, can exercise their franchise in the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 27.
The MLAs, V.C. Chandhira Kumar, P.Parthasarathi, T.Murugesan, K.Nallathambi, S.Senthilkumar and R.Arulselvan, had challenged their suspension before the Madras High Court. By an order of June 5, a single Judge dismissed the writ petition stating that there was no merit in the petitioners’ contention.
Aggrieved, the legislators filed appeals and they were pending. They filed a petition seeking an interim order to enable them to participate in the elections.
Meanwhile, in a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu, on May 15, the Election Commission had said the suspended MLAs still continued to be the elected MLAs and formed part of the electoral college for elections to the Rajya Sabha. They were eligible to vote in the coming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha.
This was brought to the notice of the First Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice R. K. Agrawal and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan on Monday. The court ordered that the six should be permitted to vote.