Having won the floor test in the Assembly, the AIADMK , which has a wafer thin majority of five votes in a House of 233 (one seat is vacant), is in a dilemma over initiating action against 12 rebel MLAs who defied the party’s whip during the voting.
While 11 AIADMK MLAs, who rallied around former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, voted against the government, one MLA PRG Arunkumar boycotted voting.
The AIADMK whip S Rajendran had directed all party MLAs to be present in the House and vote in favour of the motion of confidence moved by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami. Though the party leadership had expelled Mr. Panneerselvam and former School Education Minister Ma Foi K. Pandiarajan from the primary membership of the AIADMK, it was not communicated to the Speaker. Technically, as per Assembly records they would be treated as AIADMK MLAs.
In this backdrop, a question is being raised as to whether the AIADMK would press for the disqualification of these 12 MLAs who defied the whip. The party leadership is faced with a dilemma: If these legislators are disqualified it would lead to by-elections in the constituencies represented by them in addition to the by-election in Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar, represented by Jayalalithaa.
Political commentator and Assistant Professor P. Ramajayam of Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy in Bharathidasan University in Tiruchi says the AIADMK would handle the issue quite cautiously.
“The public unrest against the AIADMK is visible. There is a vertical divide in the party. If the AIADMK disqualifies these MLAs, it would be difficult for the party to win in those constituencies,” he opines. In case the party presses for their disqualification and loses these constituencies to the DMK (or any other party) after the by-poll eventually, the numbers would go up for the DMK in the House, he contends. This would seriously challenge the party’s majority in the House.
Civic polls
Prof. Ramajayam further points out that the party would be planning its strategy for the local bodies. Possibly, it would seek to defer the civic polls till public anger subsides.
When asked whether the rebel MLAs would be disqualified, an AIADMK spokesperson said the party was looking into the issue and was consulting legal experts. “Though they didn’t follow the whip’s orders, there is an opinion that the anti-defection law wouldn’t apply since they didn’t vote for another party. So, the party leadership will take a decision after consulting legal experts,” he claimed.
Explaining the reason behind not expelling all the revolting MLAs from the party, he said, “When the party expelled only two of them, you would have guessed that the party still has a soft corner for the other members.” He indicated that the leadership was not averse to “pardoning” the remaining rebel legislators.
