Press Release: Stalin’s Request To The President Of India!

 “ M K Stalin M. K. Stalin is an Indian politician and belongs t >> Read More... ,” the leader of the opposition party met the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee Bio coming soon... >> Read More... and requested him to take immediate action for the political mishaps in Tamilnadu. Here is the Press Release of Stalin’s Request to the honorable President.

Date: 23.02.2017

To

His Excellency

The President of India,

Rashtrapati Bhavan

New Delhi - 110 004

His Excellency,

Vanakkam. We, the DMK party, which is the largest principal opposition party in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly would like to bring to the esteemed notice of His Excellency the undemocratic and unconstitutional conduct of the business in the House on 18th Feb 2017, when the incumbent ADMK government headed by Hon’ble Edapady K. Palaniswamy sought vote of confidence, as directed by Hon'ble Governor of Tamil Nadu. The incidents leading to this final call by the Governor greatly shook the conscience of the people, respecting the values of the Constitution of this great nation.

          We would like to state that the present strength of the Tamil Nadu Assembly is 234. The party position is: ADMK (faction led by Sasikala) -122. ADMK (faction led by O Pannerselvam) - 11. Abstention - 1, Vacant - 1 and in the Opposition: DMK- 89, Congress - 8 and Indian Union Muslim league -1.

          Immediately after the resignation of the erstwhile Chief Minister Thiru.O.Panneerselvam on 5th Feb 2017 allegedly under duress, one faction belonging to ADMK elected Thirumathi.V.K.Sasikala on 6th Feb 2017, who was then facing the imminent judgment in disproportionate assets case pending before the Supreme Court. After her selection, ADMK MLAs supporting her were taken to a sea-side resort at Koovathur 70 kms from Chennai, detained illegally and their freedom of movement was curtailed. Later her trial-court conviction of imprisonment for 4 years and a fine of 10 crores of rupees in disproportionate assets case was upheld by the Supreme Court of India.

          Consequently, she is presently undergoing the term of 4 years imprisonment in Bengaluru Jail. On her conviction, the MLAs detained at the resort elected, under undue and unlawful influence, yet another leader of their legislature party as Chief Minister to be appointed and acting on this, Thiru. Edappady Palaniswamy staked his claim before the Governor of Tamil Nadu to form the govt.

          The Governor of Tamil Nadu then appointed Thiru. Edapaddy Palaniswamy as the Chief Minister on 16.2.2017 and directed him to prove his majority in the House within 15 days. Sensing the difficulty in keeping the flock of MLAs together under illegal detention for a long period and also in the wake of vociferous protests by the people across the state demanding the release of MLAs, the Speaker of TN Assembly facilitated the newly-appointed Chief Minister to prove his majority within two days and accordingly the House was hastily convened on 18th Feb 2017. As the custodian and guarantor for the rights and safety of the MLAs, the Speaker neither applied his mind while convening the Assembly nor ascertained whether the MLAs were attending the Assembly with free will and consent. Even after a retired Director General of Police and a sitting MLA of the ADMK refused to consider vote in the confidence motion bowing to people’s wishes and another MLA left for his native place in Coimbatore revolting against the illegal detention, the Speaker did not show any concern to verify the credentials of the support of MLAs brought to the Assembly from the resort in Koovathur to the Assembly.

          Under this context and in view of the importance of the confidence vote, the DMK, as the responsible opposition party with 89 MLAs out of the total strength of 234 demanded the Speaker either to order for a Secret Voting or to adjourn the proceedings for a week to make sure that the members of the legislative Assembly cast their votes in a cordial atmosphere with free will and consent, as they were under illegal detention in the resort for about 14 days. But the Speaker adamantly and arbitrarily refused to yield to the rightful demand of the DMK and unilaterally commenced the illegal proceedings of the House to conduct the floor test with the sole objective of encouraging the MLAs in captivity to vote in Confidence Motion.

          The legislative members belonging to DMK, Congress and Indian Muslim league democratically pleaded and peacefully protested but all were in vain. At one stage, the Speaker brought the Police of the City Law and Order Wing inside the house and they were all in the attire of the Assembly Marshals to conceal their identity, illegally and forcibly expelled and evicted all the DMK MLAs without following the procedure prescribed and forced the other opposition parties to walk out. In a pre-meditated move drawn with an evil design, a set of IPS officers in the rank of addl/ Joint/ Dy commissioners of police were also summoned inside the House and the police personnel under their control used their brutal force to evict all DMK MLAs from the House.  In the melee, the speaker conducted the floor-test (as if he was waiting for such a moment) which has no validity, sanctity according to the provisions of the Constitution and Anti Defection law.

          The very basic features of the Floor test in the House stand defeated mercilessly and recklessly. The speaker failed to conduct a real lawful test in the House and in the pandemonium which followed, the Speaker declared that the motion of confidence moved by the newly appointed Chief Minister has been passed and he has won the vote of confidence! We rushed to Raj Bhavan immediately, met the Governor of Tamil Nadu and represented to him to nullify the confidence vote on 18th Feb 2017.

          It is an established principle in Parliamentary democracy and spirit of the Constitution that the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State. It is for this reason that the Governor calls upon the Chief Minister to be appointed to prove his strength on the floor of the House. The principle of collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers to the Legislative Assembly includes within its ambit the rule that the Council of Ministers must enjoy the support of the majority of members of the Legislative Assembly. But the Floor-test conducted by the Speaker of Tamil Nadu Assembly is totally unconstitutional and unknown to the established procedures of voting especially in cases where the MLAs were detained against their will for two weeks in a resort under the supervision of Private Security Guards. The Governor insists on vote of confidence in the House to achieve twin purposes - one is to assure himself that his decision to invite the legislative party leader to form the government is correct and secondly to satisfy the electorate that the Chief Minister appointed by him enjoyed the majority support of the members of the Legislative Assembly. But the floor test conducted by the Speaker of the Assembly on 18th Feb obviously failed to achieve these twin objectives! 

          The Division Bench of Patna High Court held in Sapru Jayakar Motilal C.R.Das vs. Union of India And others (AIR 1999 Pat 221) that “Rules of Procedure and conduct of business framed by the Legislative Assembly do not control the discretionary power vested in the Governor and in any event, it is always open to the Legislative Assembly to evolve a procedure for consideration of vote of confidence”.

          Hence the Speaker is well within his powers to order for a Secret Voting when the MLAs allegedly supporting the party seeking vote of confidence were in captive and coercive state of mind for about two weeks. But in this case, the Speaker has stoutly refused to uphold the spirit of constitution, anti-defection law and even the principle of collective responsibility –the bedrock of the Parliamentary democracy. The confidence-vote won by the present government in Tamil Nadu is therefore against the provisions of the constitution and also a complete mockery of procedures in proving the strength of the House.

          We, therefore request His Excellency to kindly intervene and direct the Governor of Tamil Nadu to order for a fresh Floor-test in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly following the method of secret voting, duly nullifying the unconstitutional vote of confidence held on 18th Feb 2017, so as to restore the principle of collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers to Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution and the Parliamentary democracy.

With regards,

                                                             Yours sincerely,

                                                               (M.K. STALIN)