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Article 190(3): Madras HC upholds Speaker's acceptance of MLAs' resignations

By CAShorts DeskPublished Source: DT Next; ThePrint (PTI); Law Trend

Article 190(3): Madras HC upholds Speaker's acceptance of MLAs' resignations
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The Madras High Court's First Bench on 13 October 2026 upheld the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker's acceptance of six MLAs' resignations, tendered between 25 May and 29 June 2026. The Speaker had told the court he accepted them under the proviso to Article 190(3)(b) after the members confirmed they resigned of their own free will.

Syllabus: GS2 · Constitution; Prelims · Polity & Governance; GS2 · Parliament & State Legislatures

Why this matters for UPSC

GS2 (State Legislatures; Constitution): Prelims can ask what Article 190(3)(b) and its proviso provide and who decides defection under the Tenth Schedule; Mains, whether the Speaker should judge defection.

Why it matters

When legislators leave a party mid-term, they can take one of two roads. If they resign, their seats fall vacant and voters choose again in a by-election; two of these six members won their seats back that way on 6 October 2026. If they are disqualified for defection instead, the Constitution adds a penalty: they cannot be made Ministers until their old term would have ended or they are re-elected. The case shows the gap between the two roads. Under the Supreme Court's 2019 ruling in Shrimanth Balasaheb Patil, the Speaker may test a resignation only for whether it is voluntary and genuine, not for its motive, so claims of inducement must be judged in separate defection proceedings, by the same presiding officer.

Prelims pointers

  • Article 190(3)(b): a State legislator resigns by writing addressed to the Speaker or Chairman; the seat falls vacant when the resignation is accepted.
  • Proviso to Article 190(3)(b), added by the Thirty-third Amendment Act, 1974: the Speaker shall not accept a resignation found not voluntary or genuine.
  • Article 101(3)(b) carries the same resignation rule and proviso for members of Parliament.
  • Article 191(2): a State legislator is disqualified if so disqualified under the Tenth Schedule; Article 192 sends Article 191(1) questions to the Governor on the Election Commission's opinion.
  • Tenth Schedule (Fifty-second Amendment Act, 1985): disqualification for voluntarily giving up party membership or defying the party whip; the Speaker or Chairman decides.
  • Kihoto Hollohan (1992): the Speaker deciding a Tenth Schedule question acts as a tribunal; paragraph 7, barring courts, was declared invalid for want of ratification.
  • Shrimanth Balasaheb Patil (2019): the Speaker's inquiry into a resignation is limited to whether it is voluntary and genuine; disqualification relates back to the act of defection.
  • Articles 164(1B) and 361B (Ninety-first Amendment Act, 2003): a member disqualified for defection cannot become a Minister or hold a remunerative political post until the term ends or re-election.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to resignation by a member of a State Legislature, consider the following statements:

1. The proviso barring acceptance of a resignation that is not voluntary or genuine was inserted by the Forty-second Amendment Act, 1976.

2. Under Article 190(3)(b), the member's seat falls vacant when the Speaker or Chairman accepts the written resignation.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. (a) 1 only
  2. (b) 2 only
  3. (c) Both 1 and 2
  4. (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer

Answer: (b) 2 only

1 is incorrect: the proviso was inserted by the Constitution (Thirty-third Amendment) Act, 1974, not the Forty-second Amendment. 2 is correct: Article 190(3)(b) vacates the seat once the resignation, written under the member's hand, is accepted by the Speaker or Chairman.

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