Polity & GovernanceGS214 October 2026
Madras High Court upholds Speaker’s acceptance of six resignations, orders defection pleas decided in two months
Open in the app — quiz, notes, Mistake Vault हिंदी में पढ़ें
The news
Chennai. The Madras High Court on Tuesday upheld Tamil Nadu Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar’s acceptance of the resignations of six AIADMK MLAs, who later joined the ruling TVK, between May 26 and June 29, 2026. But the Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan directed him to decide within two months the disqualification proceedings against four of them, two since re-elected from the same seats. The proceedings had stayed at the notice stage for four months. The Speaker must publish a timetable within seven days and allow no more than two adjournments. He was “duty-bound to rise above his individual predilections and respect the robe”, the Bench said.
Prelims nuggets
- The Tenth Schedule was added by the 52nd Amendment, 1985; paragraph 2(1)(a) disqualifies a member who “voluntarily” gives up party membership.
- Article 190(3)(b): the Speaker shall not accept a legislator’s resignation if satisfied it is not voluntary or genuine.
- Kihoto Hollohan (1992): the Speaker deciding disqualification acts as a tribunal, open to judicial review.
- Keisham Meghachandra Singh (2020): disqualification petitions should ordinarily be decided within three months.