Chennai/Bengaluru/New Delhi, Dec. 10 -- At least 108 lawmakers from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Tuesday submitted a notice in the Lok Sabha seeking the impeachment of Madras high court judge justice GR Swaminathan even as the judge summoned senior Tamil Nadu officials in connection with the continued stand off over a traditional lamp-lighting festival at a hilltop near Madurai. The impeachment notice marks a rare instance when Parliament has seen an attempt to remove a sitting high court judge. To be sure, the Opposition does not have the numbers to carry the motion should the speaker choose to admit it. The move came days after justice Swaminathan's December 1 judgment allowing the lighting of the Karthigai Deepam atop the Thiruparankundram hills in Madurai, near the Sikkander Badusha dargah. The hilltop, which houses the Subramaniya Swamy temple, the Kasi Viswanatha temple and the dargah, has long been regarded as a sensitive interfaith site. The judge ordered that the Karthigai Deepam be lit on the Deepathoon at the summit, rather than the Deepa Mandapam near the Uchipillaiyar temple where the ritual has reportedly been performed for over a century. The allegation is that this was done to polarise society with an eye on next year's assembly elections in the state. In the notice, the MPs alleged that the judge's conduct "raised serious questions regarding impartiality, transparency and the secular functioning of the judiciary," further accusing him of extending "undue favouritism" to a petitioner and deciding cases on the basis of a "particular political ideology" and "against the secular principles of the India Constitution." The letter, a copy of which HT has seen, seeks the removal of justice Swaminathan under Article 217 read with 124 of the Constitution of India. "The conduct of justice G. R. Swaminathan raises serious questions regarding impartiality, transparency, and the secular functioning of the judiciary," the letter read. The letter was submitted by DMK parliamentary party leader K Kanimozhi accompanied by Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with other leaders....