CHENNAI: The Election Commission of India’s (ECI) act of taking on record the amendments made in the bylaws of the AIADMK in delegating powers of the general secretary to the coordinator and co-coordinator cannot be faulted, said Madras High Court on Monday.
While dismissing a petition seeking revocation of the recognition to the amendments, the First Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu said: “Once an authorised representative (of a political party) communicates with the ECI, it accepts that decision as the decision of the relevant party. In other words, it is only a ministerial act of taking on record the decision of a recognised party as communicated.”
The judges said the ECI need not have to ascertain the veracity of the document submitted in this regard. “Election Commission is not required to apply its mind or go into any degree to ascertain the veracity of the document or its adherence to the rules governing such party,” they said.
The petitioner, advocate Ramkumar Adityan, claiming to be a member of AIADMK, filed the petition praying the court to revoke the acceptance given by the ECI to the amendments made in the party’s bylaws at its general council meeting in September 2017. The amendments allowed delegation of powers of an elected general secretary to Coordinator O Panneerselvam and Co-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami. He contended the amendments were against the party’s constitution. He also wanted a direction to hold the election for the post of the general secretary because only an elected general secretary can hold the intra-party polls that the current leadership has promised to hold by the end of December.
Saying the petitioner should have approached a ‘domestic forum’ of the party to address the grievances, the court added he could have otherwise filed a civil suit. The court also said, “Election Commission’s decision does not appear to be out of order.”