BANGKOK - Thailand's Constitutional Court on Thursday agreed to accept a petition seeking to remove Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office over an ethics complaint following his cabinet appointment.

Judges voted by five to four not to order him to stop performing duties pending the court's verdict and ordered him to submit his defense within 15 days, the court said in a statement.

The decision came as a group of 40 caretaker senators asked for a ruling on whether Srettha's appointment of a minister with a prison record during a recent cabinet reshuffle violated the constitution.