Members of the AIADMK faction owing allegiance to sidelined leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran on Thursday approached the Election Commission urging the poll body to declare the recent AIADMK (Amma, PTA) general council meeting invalid.
The party’s merged factions under Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam on Tuesday declared late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as AIADMK’s “permanent” general secretary and annulled the appointment of V K Sasikala as interim general secretary.
A delegation of five MPs supporting from Dhinakaran — Vijila Sathyananth, Vasanthi Murugesan, Udhaya Kumar, N Gokula Krishnan and B Senguttuvan — met the full bench of Election Commission.
“Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti has assured us that the EC will duly examine the petition,” Ms Sathyananth told The Hindu.
Ms. Sathyananth explained that the memorandum highlights three basic points— one the general council meeting was invalid, Sasikala continues to be general secretary of party till the Madras High Court judgment and no one should be allowed to withdraw over 7 lakh affidavits filed in support of Sasikala faction filed by AIADMK (Amma) faction.
“Who called this general council meeting? There was no one signature in the invitation. According to party by-laws, the general secretary should convene the meeting, or 1/5th of the members should approach the GS to call for a meeting. None of these procedures was followed,” Ms. Sathyananth said.
After a single judge of the Madras High Court dismissed the plea of the Dhinakaran faction for a stay on the general council meeting, it approached the Division Bench, which too refused to interfere with the former’s conclusion.
The court, however, said that any decision taken at the meeting will be subject to the final outcome in the appeal and posted the matter to October 23.
The Madras High Court verdict had said that any decision in the meeting will be subject to the final outcome in the appeal,” Sathyananth said.