Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker drops action against 21 AIADMK MLAs after Palaniswami condones them

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar on Tuesday (June 9, 2026) announced that, following the receipt of four separate letters from AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, condoning the conduct of 21 of the 25 rebel MLAs who voted contrary to the direction issued by the party whip during the vote of confidence for the Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay-led government on May 13, he had dropped further action against them.

Speaking to journalists at the Secretariat in Chennai, Mr. Prabhakar said proceedings had been initiated against four rebel legislators — Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam), S. Jayakumar (Perundurai), P. Sathyabama (Dharapuram), and Esaki Subaya (Ambasamudram) — who resigned and joined the TVK, and that a decision would be taken later.

Describing the sequence of events, the Speaker said Mr. Palaniswami had submitted a letter on May 13 evening seeking the disqualification of 25 rebel AIADMK MLAs under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India after they voted against the directions of the party whip. A few days later, he said he had received four separate letters from Mr. Palaniswami condoning the actions of 21 MLAs. The Speaker said he had examined them, gone through the Assembly rules, and decided to drop the proceedings against the 21 MLAs.

He also read out the names of the 21 MLAs: G. Hari (Tiruttani), S.M. Sukumar (Arcot), K.C. Veeramani (Jolarpet), P. Balakrishnareddy (Hosur), K.P. Anbalagan (Palacodu), Maragatham Vetrivel (Pappireddippatti), Dhilipan Jaishankar (Sankarankovil (SC),) C.Ve. Shanmugam (Mailam), R. Rakesh (Sankarapuram), S. Sekar (Paramathi-Velur), N.S.N. Nataraj (Kangayam), P. Haribaskar (Anthiyur), S.P. Velumani (Thondamuthur), K. Ravimanoharan (Palani), Natham R. Viswanathan (Natham), M.R. Vijayabhaskar (Karur), Leemarose Martin (Lalgudi), K. Mohan (Panruti), A. Arunmozhithevan (Bhuvanagiri), R. Kamaraj (Nannilam), and C. Vijayabaskar (Viralimalai).