The decision of O. Panneerselvam, who has floated the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhaga Cadres Right Retrieval Organisation, to contest in Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency as an independent can be challenged under provisions of the anti-defection law but this does not necessarily lead to disqualification, according to former officials of Parliament and State Assembly Secretariats.
There are two grounds on which a legislator can be expelled: when he or she gives up membership of the party that sets him or her as a candidate and when he or she defies its whip. In the case of Mr. Panneerselvam, he was expelled from the party through a resolution adopted at a meeting of the AIADMK’s general council in July 2022.
“What grounds can be cited by the party for getting him disqualified when it had expelled him? How can it claim any association with him, after having expelled him?” P.D.T. Achary, former Secretary General, Lok Sabha, wonders. As for defying the party’s whip, that situation has not arisen in this case, he says.
However, as far as the anti-defection law is concerned, an expelled member remains a member of the party so long as he or she is a member of the House (Parliament or State legislature). “His expulsion does not make any difference in his status as a member of the [legislature] party,” the former Secretary General says.
So, for academic purposes, the AIADMK can move the Speaker with a petition for disqualification. But, then “it will be a funny situation,” Mr. Achary observes.
Another former official of the Assembly Secretariat views that Mr. Panneerselvam’s decision to contest as an independent will not attract the provision of the law but if he chooses to join any other party, the disqualification proceedings can be initiated against him.
This was what happened in the case of former Ministers G. Viswanathan and Azhagu Thirunavukkarasu, who were disqualified by the then Speaker R. Muthiah for joining the MDMK in April 1995 despite having been expelled from the AIADMK in January 1994 and declared “unattached members” three months later, the former official recalls, adding that the Madras High Court in September 1995 and the Supreme Court in January 1996 upheld the Speaker’s decision to disqualify them.
A member of the Panneerselvam camp says various legal aspects were discussed among them before the group leader took his decision. It was then pointed out that when the HC had categorically restrained him from using the AIADMK’s flag, there was no basis for the AIADMK leadership to take action against him on the use of ‘two leaves’ symbol and the official letterhead.
