Supreme Court Rejects Plea Against Six AIADMK MLAs Who Joined TVK

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the resignation of six AIADMK MLAs who later joined Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the ruling party in Tamil Nadu. The petition, filed by advocate K Suthan, challenged a Madras High Court decision rejecting his plea for restrictions on the legislators.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana rejected the petition, observing that resigning from a legislative seat and subsequently becoming a minister could form part of the political process.

The public interest litigation (PIL) sought the creation of an “Election Expenditure Security” mechanism and a five-year disqualification for the six legislators. The Madras High Court had dismissed the plea on September 24, holding that the constitutional right to resign from a legislative assembly seat could not be restricted through additional conditions imposed by judicial order.

The petitioner had asked the Election Commission and Tamil Nadu’s Chief Electoral Officer to require any sitting MLA voluntarily resigning from office to deposit an amount equivalent to the public expenditure incurred on the resulting by-election before contesting it.

On October 13, the Madras High Court upheld Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar’s decision to accept the resignations of the six AIADMK legislators, who subsequently joined TVK.

The resignations took place in stages. S Jayakumar, Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama resigned on May 25, 2026, after being elected from Perundurai, Madurantakam and Dharapuram, respectively. Esakki Subaya, who represented Ambasamudram, resigned the following day. C Vijayabhaskar of Viralimalai and M R Vijayabhaskar of Karur resigned on June 16 and June 29, respectively. All six had won their seats on AIADMK tickets in the April Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

Following their move to TVK, Maragatham Kumaravel and Sathyabama won the October 6 by-elections in Madurantakam and Dharapuram as TVK candidates.

The Supreme Court’s decision followed petitions involving the AIADMK whip Krishnamurthy and Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi. The dispute arose after 25 AIADMK MLAs allegedly defied the party whip on May 13, prompting disqualification proceedings.

The courts clarified that resignation and disqualification are separate legal processes. A Speaker may accept an MLA’s resignation even when disqualification proceedings are pending, but accepting the resignation does not automatically terminate those proceedings. The Speaker remains responsible for deciding the disqualification petitions, and the High Court may intervene under Article 226 if a decision is not made within a reasonable period.