A writ petition has been filed in the Madras High Court to restrain the Election Commission of India (ECI) from approving the election of former Chief Ministers O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami as the coordinator and co-coordinator of AIADMK.
Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu accepted a request made by the petitioner’s counsel, N.G.R. Prasad, to hear the case on Tuesday. J. Jayachandran of Arasanatti in Hosur had filed the writ petition in his capacity as a member of the party for more than 30 years.
Initially, the counsel had requested the court to hear the matter on Monday afternoon itself, after stating that there was every possibility of the election results being declared on Tuesday. He also pointed out that there was an urgent need for an interim injunction restraining the election officers from declaring the results.
The judges agreed to hear the matter on Monday afternoon if the petition got numbered by the High Court Registry by then. However, it was reported later in the day that the petition couldn’t be listed immediately. Mr. Prasad told the court that the election officers had rushed through the process and declared the results.
After asking him to file an additional affidavit listing the latest developments, the judges decided to hear the matter on Tuesday. In his affidavit, the petitioner had accused the two former Chief Ministers of bringing the party into disrepute by acting in an unjust and whimsical manner to hold on to their positions.
Bylaws amended
He said that the bylaws were recently amended just to pave the way for them to remain coordinator and co-coordinator of the party, and that they got themselves declared elected unopposed to the posts without giving scope for any other aspirant to even file their nomination.
Claiming to have lodged a complaint in this regard with the ECI on December 1, the petitioner said the Commission had failed to take any action.
