AIADMK's 5th MLA resigns; EPS faction says TVK is engineering "systematic decimation of democratic opposition"; demands Speaker await Supreme Court ruling on anti-defection cases

A fifth AIADMK MLA from the rebel camp submitted a resignation letter to Speaker JCD Prabhakar on Thursday, May 28, adding to four earlier resignations and further deepening the opposition party's crisis.

The EPS faction termed the wave of resignations a "systematic decimation of democratic opposition" engineered by the ruling TVK government, and demanded that the Speaker hold a Supreme Court hearing on pending anti-defection cases before accepting any more resignations.

Tamil Nadu's opposition party witnessed a dramatic political reshuffle as rebel MLAs resigned from the Assembly, while some dissident legislators returned to the camp led by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.

The resignations and defections came less than two weeks after a major rebellion rocked the AIADMK during the crucial Assembly confidence vote, suggesting an accelerating pace of party fragmentation.

With the fifth resignation, AIADMK's effective strength in the 234-member Assembly has fallen further, raising questions about whether the party can maintain its status as a recognised opposition group under Assembly rules.