Supreme Court Dismisses Case Against Four Former AIADMK MLAs Who Joined TVK Party

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has dismissed the case filed against four former AIADMK MLAs who resigned and joined the TVK. The case was filed against Maragatham Kumaravel, Sathyabama, Isakki Subbaiah, and Jayakumar, alleging that the AIADMK MLAs who resigned had defected to another party. The four leaders had contested and won in the Tamil Nadu Assembly election on behalf of the AIADMK. Maragatham Kumaravel won from Maduranthakam, Sathyabama from Dharapuram, Isakki Subbaiah from Ambasamudram, and Jayakumar from Perundurai. After their victory, they resigned their MLA posts and joined the TVK party following which the cases were filed against them. Selvakumar filed a petition in the Supreme Court in June last year. He sought that these four persons who switched parties should be barred from contesting in elections. Selvakumar contended that the resignation and joining of the TVK was a clear case of defection and that the four should not be allowed to contest elections. The Supreme Court, however, dismissed the case against the four former MLAs. The order puts an end to the petition filed by Selvakumar in June last year seeking a bar on the four from contesting elections. Maragatham Kumaravel, Sathyabama, Isakki Subbaiah and Jayakumar had resigned their MLA posts from Maduranthakam, Dharapuram, Ambasamudram and Perundurai respectively before joining the TVK.