Sources have stated that when defending his decision in the Assembly on Saturday, Speaker P. Dhanapal had asserted that there was no provision in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Rules to allow secret voting on a motion of confidence.
He had rejected pleas for secret voting by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the rebel group of the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League because he had to go by what was provided in Rule 99 [which deals with the method of taking votes]. Under the Rule, a motion could be adopted either through voice vote or division. Considering the importance of the motion [vote of confidence], he had opted for a division.
Meanwhile when referring to the outcome of the voting, the Speaker said even if members of the DMK [who were evicted before the division was taken up], the Congress and the IUML [who had staged a walkout before the division] had voted against the motion, it would still have carried with an absolute majority as 122 members had voted in favor.
On the incidents in the House earlier in the day, he said though he did not wish to talk about them, he was forced to comment as the Leader of Opposition [M.K. Stalin] had told the media his version of what transpired.
