SC stays Madras HC order barring TVK MLA from TN Assembly amid confidence vote

The confidence motion was in progress inside the Assembly when the Supreme Court directed its order. The final tally was 144 votes in favour of the government, 22 against, with five abstentions. The DMK walked out of the Assembly ahead of the motion, and Udhayanidhi Stalin announced that the party would boycott the proceedings.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi suspended the operation of the Madras High Court's interim order and stayed further proceedings before the high court. The court said the writ petition ought not to have been entertained given the constitutional scheme governing election disputes and issued notice with two weeks for counter affidavits. It also directed the order be uploaded immediately on the Supreme Court website due to the ongoing confidence motion in the Assembly.

The Madras High Court passed an interim order restraining TVK MLA-elect Sreenivasa Sethupathi from participating in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in a dispute involving a postal ballot. The court described the matter as involving an 'administrative failure' by election authorities and said limited judicial intervention under Article 226 was justified to preserve electoral records and evidence, noting that Sethupathi's participation in the floor test could have consequences 'far beyond the constituency and affect the constitutional governance of the State.'