CHENNAI: A division bench of Madras High Court on Monday refused to provide interim relief to former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who is contesting from Ramanathapuram constituency in this Lok Sabha election, from the injunction imposed by a single judge barring him from using AIADMK’s two leaves symbol.
Stating that they did not want to provide any “oxygen” to the expelled AIADMK leader, the division bench, comprising Justices R Subramanian and R Sakthivel observed, “Now, that the elections have been under way, we will not pass any interim orders which would precipitate things.”
The bench also said OPS could approach the Supreme Court on the issue of using the party's symbol. The former coordinator of AIADMK, whose faction is now part of the BJP-led alliance, filed the appeal petition, challenging the single judge’s order barring him from using the AIADMK flag, symbol and letterhead, besides disallowing him from claiming to be the party coordinator.
The single judge’s order was passed on a petition filed by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami. The judge had said the court was satisfied that the ‘prima facie case’ and the ‘balance of convenience’ were in favour of Palaniswami, the plaintiff; and if the expelled leader Panneerselvam was not restrained, it would cause confusion among the cadres and lead to serious consequences.
The division bench, while refusing to grant any interim relief to Panneerselvam, said, “We will hear the petition after the elections. You won’t get any oxygen from us.” The bench noted that OPS had earlier challenged his expulsion from the party and sought an injunction against the expulsion, but the court refused to grant the relief. “Now, how can we pass interim order?”
It posted the appeal for final hearing after the polls, on June 10, 2024.
Senior counsel PH Aravindh Pandian, appearing for Panneerselvam, submitted that the single judge had passed the injunction order even when the original suit challenging the conduct of the general council meet of the AIADMK, where a resolution to expel the leader and his supporters was passed, is pending.
He argued that the two leaves symbol was given to Panneerselvam by Election Commission of India when his supporter E Madhusudanan was the presidium chairperson of the party, but now they (Palaniswami and his supporters) were trying to “hold it and make it wither.”