Madras High Court seeks reply from Assembly speaker on recognising RB Udhayakumar as DLoP

Contending that the expelled members of the party, who were MLAs, were allowed to sit with the rest of AIADMK MLAs in the Assembly and interfered in discussions that should be exclusive to the principal Opposition party, the petitioner submitted that it was hampering the party’s effectiveness in the House.

Petitioner Palaniswami also submitted that despite repeated petitions, the speaker of the House refused to approve Udhayakumar as the deputy floor leader of the party even after the legislature party elected him for the post.

Hence, Palaniswami prayed to the court for a direction to the Assembly speaker to approve Udhayakumar and Krishnamurthy for the posts it had chosen for them.

Admitting the petition, Justice Anitha Sampath, ordered notice to the Assembly secretary and speaker, returnable on 12 December.

Also read: AIADMK’s Edappadi faction chooses Udhayakumar as DLoP

Background of the case

After the AIADMK lost the election, the legislature party elected Palaniswami as the Opposition leader and Panneerselvam as its deputy leader.

Further, the AIADMK legislature party also selected SP Velumani as the whip and S Ravi as the deputy whip.

On 11 July, 2022, the AIADMK general council terminated Panneerselvam, R Vaithilingam, and Manoj Pandian from the primary membership of AIADMK citing anti-party activities.

On 17 July, 2022, the AIADMK Legislature Party elected Udhayakumar and Krishnamurthy as the DLoP and deputy secretary, respectively.

When the issue was raised earlier, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker Appavu maintained that the post of DLoP was not a recognised one as per the Assembly rules.

He also said that it was his prerogative to decide the seating arrangements for the members of the House and no MLA could claim that they should be given a seat in a particular place.