INDIRA BANERJEE, J.

1. All these writ petitions, are directed against an order dated 18.9.2017 of the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly declaring the writ petitioners, eighteen in number, as disqualified from the membership of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on the ground that they had voluntarily given up the membership of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party.

2. The issues involved in all these writ petitions being identical, the writ petitions were heard together and are now being disposed of by this common judgment and order. The facts giving rise to the impugned order of the Speaker are set out briefly hereinafter.

3. After the death of Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and leader of the AIADMK on 5.12.2016, Mr. O. Panneerselvam was elected as the leader of AIADMK in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Mr. O. Panneerselvam was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 6.12.2016.

4. Mr. O. Panneerselvam resigned from the office of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 6.2.2017, after which Mr. E. Palaniswami was elected as the leader of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on 14.2.2017. Mr. E. Palaniswami was sworn in as Chief Minister on 16.2.2017.

5. In the writ petitions, it is stated that on 18.2.2017, the Chief Minister faced a floor test, wherein 122 MLAs of the AIADMK Party, including the 18 writ petitioners, voted in favour of Mr. E. Palaniswami in line with the direction issued by the Chief Government Whip. However, Mr. O. Panneerselvam and 10 other MLAs voted against Mr. E. Palaniswami, while one MLA supporting Mr. O. Panneerselvam abstained. However, the majority votes went in favour of Mr. E. Palaniswami. According to the writ petitioners, the party, that is, AIADMK, did not condone the action of Mr. O. Panneerselvam and 11 other MLAs of voting against the direction of the Chief Government Whip, within 15 days or at all.

6. On 16.3.2017, the O. Panneerselvam faction raised a dispute before the Election Commission of India under Paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order claiming themselves to be the true AIADMK Party against the majority group headed by Mr. T.T.V. Dhinakaran with Mr. E. Palaniswami as the Chief Minister.

7. On 22.3.2017, the Chief Election Commission passed an order freezing the Two Leaves Symbol and directing that neither the AIADMK (Purachi Thalaivi) nor the T.T.V. Dhinakaran E. Palaniswami AIADMK (Amma) could use the party symbol.

8. In the meanwhile, on 20.3.2017, some of the writ petitioners filed petitions before the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for disqualification of Mr. O. Panneerselvam and ten others from the membership of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, under Paragraph 2(1)(b) of the Tenth Schedule for having voted against the party directive to support its Chief Minister. No notice has yet been issued on the said petition. According to the writ petitioners, they moved the application after waiting for thirty days, which was beyond the period of fifteen days, within which voting against whip and/or directive of the party could be condoned.

9. Later in August, 2017, Mr. O. Panneerselvam and Mr. E. Palaniswami buried their differences and the two factions re-united. Mr. O. Panneerselvam and one Mr. K. Pandiarajan, one of the 12 MLAs who had voted against Mr. E. Palaniswami on 18.2.2017, were sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister and Minister respectively on 21.8.2017. Of course, under the Constitution there is no post of Deputy Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister is actually a Minister, as has been held by this Court by its order dated 8.9.2017 in W.P. No. 23540 of 2017, V. Elangovan vs. Chief Secretary and Others.

10. Thereafter, Mr. T.T.V. Dhinakaran requested all MLAs of AIADMK (Amma) to protest to the Governor against the Chief Minister and his governance. On 22.8.2017, the writ petitioners along wi