NEW DELHI: Former Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) who is currently AIADMK’s interim general secretary has told the Supreme Court that the overwhelming majority of the party is against O Panneerselvam (OPS).
Contending that the plea that has been filed by OPS is “frivolous in nature”, the interim General Secretary of the AIADMK party has stated that, “Requisition for Special Meeting on 11.07.2022 to take decisions on Single leadership was made by 2190 out of 2665 members of the General Council, which amounts to 82 per cent of the General Council Members. This was followed up with the agenda signed, by 2432 General Council members (250 additional general Council members had given the agenda). On 11.07.2022, the General Council was attended by 2460 members. They unanimously passed resolutions removing Mr O Paneerselvam as Co-ordinator and from the Party's primary membership.”
The affidavit has filed a petition challenging Madras HC’s September 2 verdict that restored EPS as the party’s single leader. On September 30, EPS assured SC that there shall be no elections to the post of party’s General Secretary till the matter is heard by the top court.
Stating that the party's General Council is the party's Supreme Body and its decisions are binding on all party members, the affidavit states that the present action of OPS which is against the decision of the General Council makes it clear that he is not entitled to be the member.
It also adds, “The claim of Mr O Paneerselvam that the leaders in the Party are above the General Council is contradictory to the Rules and Regulations of the Party.”
The affidavit also states that although an Executive Council meeting which was convened on December 1, 2021, had passed a resolution for amending bye-laws with regards to more of the Coordinator and Joint Coordinator which was to be placed for approval in the next meeting of General Council.
In furtherance of this, the affidavit also states that the resolution regarding amending the rules was not approved at the General Council meeting on June 23, 2022, and thus this resulted in a lapse of elections which happened pursuant to the amendments & posts of Coordinator & Joint Coordinator. The difference in standpoint between EPS & OPS in this regards resulted in a “functional deadlock.”
“There was an inability on the part of the Co-ordinator and Joint Co-ordinator to function jointly. Under the Rules and Regulations, the Co-ordinator and Joint Co-ordinator can do any function only together; hence, due to the deadlock, they could not function jointly,” the affidavit also states.
On September 2, 2022, a division bench of Justices M Duraiswamy and Sunder Mohan in the appeal preferred by EPS had set aside a single judge’s order dated August 17 that nullified the results of the July 11 General Council and ordered status quo ante as on June 23 in AIADMK affairs.
As a result of the resolution passed by the General Council, EPS had become the single leader of the party and discarded AIADMK’s dual leadership mode of functioning.
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As per the dual mode, OPS and EPS were coordinator and joint coordinator respectively. This was in effect since the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha.
The division bench in its 127-page order observed that a single judge’s order had created a functional deadlock in the party as there was no possibility for EPS and OPS to act jointly.