Chennai: Eight of the 18 pro-Dhinakaran MLAs disqualified by the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker today moved the Madras High Court challenging the action against them under the anti-defection law.

In their individual petitions, they assailed yesterday’s order of Speaker P Dhanapal disqualifying them as MLAs as ‘unauthorised’ and ‘illegal’.

The petitioners sought to forbear Dhanapal, Government Chief Whip S Rajendran, Chief Minister K Palaniswami and the Assembly Secretary from interfering with their right as elected representatives.

Acting on a plea by Rajendran, the Speaker had yesterday disqualified 18 MLAs, loyal to sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, under the assembly anti-defection and disqualification rules of 1986 formed in accordance with the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

The Chief Whip had moved the Speaker after the MLAs met state Governor Ch Vidaysagar Rao on August 22 and expressed lack of confidence in the chief minister.

Condemning the disqualification, Dhinakaran had yesterday itself said they would legally challenge the Speaker’s action.

Petitioners — P Vetrivel, N G Parthiban, P Palaniappan, Jayanthi Padmanabhan, Senthil Balaji, R Murugan, R Balasubramani and S Muthiah — sought to quash the disqualification order passed by the Speaker as “unauthorised and illegal and without jurisdiction as per the binding law in (former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa s case.”

They also prayed the court to grant interim stay on the operation and implementation of the September 18 impugned order and permit them to participate in the proceedings of assembly, including trust vote on the present government.

Earlier in the day, senior counsel P R Raman made a mention before Justice M Duraiswamy and sought urgent hearing of the matter. The Judge agreed to hear the petitions tomorrow if filed.

The Judge is already hearing a petition by DMK Working President M K Stalin seeking a direction to the state Governor to order a floor test for the Palaniswami government in view of the revolt by pro-Dhinakaran MLAs.

Justice Duraiswami had on Sept 14 ordered no floor test be conducted in the assembly till tomorrow, when the petition will come up for resumed hearing.

Today, cousel Raman contended that the Constitutional rights of the 18 MLAs to cast their votes in case of a floor test would be greatly affected if their pleas were not heard on an urgent basis.

Agreeing to hear the pleas tomorrow, the judge directed them to file proper petitions.

With the disqualification of the 18 MLAs, the 234-member assembly has only 215 elected members with one seat being vacant already.

The government now needs only 108 votes to prove its majority in the assembly now in case of a floor test.