Supreme Court to examine plea to set aside TN trust vote

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, sought the assistance of the Attorney General in examining a plea by an AIADMK MLA, considered close to former Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam, seeking to set aside the February 18 trust vote in Tamil Nadu which was won by E K Palaniswami.   

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and A.M. Khanwilkar sought  the AG's help after senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for AIADMK MLA K Pandiarajan, claimed that MLAs had  voted in the trust vote "under distress" and members of  opposition were evicted by marshals from the assembly.   

"Let a copy of this writ petition be served on the office of Attorney General for India as we intend to be assisted by him. Let the matter be listed on July 11," the bench said.   Subramanium said there should have been secret ballot but the TN Assembly Speaker had rejected this demand of the MLAs during the February 18 trust vote which was won by CM.

“There was a trust vote but MLAs voted under distress.  Members of opposition were evicted by the marshals and voting was held in a hurry. The opposition had said there should be secret voting,” he told the bench.  He said the Governor as well as the Speaker can act in this issue and a representation was also made to the Governor.  “The governor has received representation and forwarded  it to the the Speaker. Some decision has to be taken by them whether fresh trust vote is required,” he said. To this, the bench asked “Why can’t they have a trust vote again? Why cannot they do it on their own?”   Responding to this, Subramanium said this has to be done by the Speaker and the rules do not debar a secret ballot.   

The AIADMK MLA has challenged the decision of the Assembly Speaker rejecting their demand for secret ballot during the trust vote and sought a direction for quashing Speaker P. Dhanapal’s decision rejecting their demand to  determine the outcome of the floor test.