Tamil Nadu governor steers clear of trust vote row

Chennai: A day after Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palanisami won a controversial vote of confidence, governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao on Sunday declined to interfere in the proceedings of the Assembly despite demands from AIADMK’s Panneerselvam faction and Opposition DMK to “nullify” the trust vote.

He is said to be of the view that the aggrieved parties can approach the judiciary if they feel the need, according to sources close to Raj Bhavan. The delegation from the Panneerselvam camp and the DMK wanted the vote of confidence to be scrapped as the voting was held in the absence of the entire Opposition and the Speaker did not conduct a secret ballot.

“The Governor is of the view that he cannot interfere in the proceedings of the Assembly and that the Speaker has all the powers to run the House and proceedings. Hence, he is going by the rulebook in not interfering,” a source said.

Mr Rao on Sunday sought a “factual and detailed report immediately” from the Assembly, AMP Jamaludeen, on Saturday's events. Mr Jamaludeen is expected to send the report on Monday.

Mr Rao, sources said, is also convinced that Mr Palanisami enjoys the confidence of 122 MLAs and there was no need for him to suspect those numbers.

During their separate meetings with Mr Rao on Sunday, Mr Panneerselvam and the DMK demanded nullification of the trust vote alleging that the motion was adopted by contravening rules of the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

Former state minister K. Pandiarajan, who was part of the Panneerselvam delegation, informed the media that they had requested the governor to fix a new date for the trust vote again. “We requested the governor not to recognise Saturday’s Assembly resolution and announce fresh date for taking up the vote of confidence,” he said.

They had also briefed him about the violence during the vote of confidence and stated that the voting was taken up after 100 members were “unconstitutionally and forcibly” evicted from the Assembly. “We submitted documentary proof,” Mr. Pandiarajan added.

The DMK also termed the vote of confidence as “murder of democracy”. In a memorandum submitted to Mr Rao, Opposition Leader M.K. Stalin alleged that the motion of confidence moved by Mr Palanisami was adopted by “contravening the rules of the state Assembly.”

The DMK working president defended the move by legislators to “resort to peaceful dharna inside the House” after his demand for secret voting on the motion was rejected by Speaker P. Dhanapal on Saturday, saying “finding no other way to register our protest, we resorted to peaceful dharna inside the House.”