ECI proceedings in AIADMK leadership dispute stayed by HC

ECI proceedings in AIADMK leadership dispute stayed by HC

ECI proceedings in AIADMK leadership dispute stayed by HC ByDivya Chandrababu, Chennai Jan 10, 2025 09:16 AM IST Share Via Copy Link The case’s petitioner S Surya Moorthi had sought for the party’s iconic two-leaves symbol not to be allowed to candidates fielded by EPS until the leadership is settled

The Madras high court on Thursday stayed all proceedings initiated by the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding the AIADMK leadership dispute. It was after party general secretary and leader of opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) filed a writ petition seeking a direction to the electoral body from conducting quasi judicial proceedings on the basis of representations made by expelled members including OP Ravindranath and KC Palanisamy.

Edappadi KPalaniswami (EPS) filed a writ petition seeking a direction to the electoral body from conducting quasi judicial proceedings on the basis of representations made by expelled members including OP Ravindranath and KC Palanisamy (PTI)

A bench of justices R Subramanian and C Kumarappan passed the interim orders on the plea. “Looking back into the representation that you made earlier, we don’t think it was Bonafide,” the court orally remarked according to Live Law. “The ECI cannot act like this. The counsels should be at least fair to the court.”

The case’s petitioner S Surya Moorthi had sought for the party’s iconic two-leaves symbol not to be allowed to candidates fielded by EPS until the leadership is settled. A division bench of justices R Subramanian and C Kumarappan on December 4 last year asked the ECI to hear all parties concerned before arriving at a decision after expelled leader O Panneerselvam’s (OPS) counsel had said that he too should be consulted. Later, the ECI summoned EPS and OPS to appear for a personal hearing on December 23 in Delhi.

EPS’ counsel and senior advocate Aryama Sundaram questioned the jurisdiction of the ECI in hearing internal party matters. ECI’s standing counsel Niranjan Rajagopal contended that the petition was filed on an understanding that the ECI would not venture into areas where it had no jurisdiction.

The petitioner had detailed the leadership tussle that had been ongoing in the AIADMK since the death of its supremo J Jayalalithaa in office in December 2016 following which VK Sasikala became the head of the party. She had passed on the post to EPS in 2017 who later jointly shared power with OPS.

Over the years, EPS first expelled Sasikala, her nephew TTV Dhinakaran and in 2022 he shunted out OPS. All three have tried to claim rights over the AIADMK unsuccessfully. The petitioner had submitted the request to the ECI in February. Following this, the ECI told the high court that they had issued a notice to the AIADMK.

EPS is Tamil Nadu’s leader of opposition and has been running the AIADMK after expelling OPS in 2022. Until then EPS and OPS had led the party together as coordinator and joint-coordinator respectively. EPS has the support of 63 out of the 66 MLAs who won contesting under AIADMK in the 2021 assembly elections, supporters of the latter have filed several petitions in the high court and Supreme Court challenging his expulsion.