ECI proceedings in AIADMK leadership dispute suspended by HC | Latest India News

The Madras High Court on Thursday stayed all proceedings initiated by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the AIADMK leadership dispute. This is after the party’s general secretary and opposition leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) filed a writ petition seeking direction to the electoral body to conduct a quasi-judicial proceeding based on the statements of expelled members, including O.P. Ravindranath and KC Palanisamy.

A bench of Justices R. Subramanian and C. Kumarappan passed interim orders on the plea. “Looking back at the testimony you gave earlier, we do not believe it was Bonafide,” the court orally stated, according to Live Law. “The ECI cannot behave like this. At the very least, lawyers should be honest with the court.”

The petitioner, S. Surya Moorthi, demanded that the party’s iconic symbol of two leaves should not be made available to candidates fielded by the EPS until the leadership is identified. On December 4 last year, a division bench comprising Justices R Subramanian and C Kumarappan had asked the ECI to hear all stakeholders before taking a decision after counsel for expelled leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) submitted that he too should be consulted. Later, the ECI summoned EPS and OPS for a personal hearing to be held on December 23 in Delhi.

EPS counsel and senior advocate Aryama Sundaram questioned the jurisdiction of the ECI to hear internal party matters. ECI Standing Counsel Niranjan Rajagopal maintained that the petition was filed on the understanding that the ECI would not venture into areas where it had no jurisdiction.

The petitioner has detailed the leadership dispute that has been going on in the AIADMK since its leader J. Jayalalithaa died in office in December 2016, which resulted in VK Sasikala leading the party. In 2017, she handed over this position to EPS, which later shared power with OPS.

Over the years, EPS first expelled Sasikala, her nephew TTV Dhinakaran, and in 2022, he expelled OPS. The three tried unsuccessfully to claim the rights of the AIADMK. The petitioner submitted his application to the European Citizens’ Initiative in February. The ECI then informed the High Court that it had issued notice to the AIADMK.

EPS is the leader of the Opposition in Tamil Nadu and was heading the AIADMK after the expulsion of OPS in 2022. Until then, EPS and OPS jointly headed the party as coordinator and co-coordinator respectively. EPS has the support of 63 of the 66 MLAs who won the 2021 assembly elections under the AIADMK. The latter’s supporters filed several petitions in the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court challenging his expulsion.