The succession battle in the AIADMK, which lasted for over six years, has finally come to an end with the Election Commission of India (ECI) officially recognising Edappadi K Palaniswami as the General Secretary of the 50-year-old Dravidian party.
The ECI has accepted a letter sent by Palaniswami on May 31, 2023, formally asking the agency to accept his election as general secretary of the AIADMK in the organisational polls held in March this year and has posted the same on its website under the section 'Political Parties'. This brings to an end, albeit for now, the bitter battle between O Panneerselvam, Edappadi K Palaniswami, V K Sasikala, and T T V Dhinakaran to emerge as the successor to late party supremo J Jayalalithaa after her death in 2016.
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In June 2022, Palaniswami, who was joint coordinator of the AIADMK, struck unannounced at his boss Panneerselvam, who was named coordinator as part of a BJP-brokered peace in 2017. Palaniswami then got the bye-laws of the party amended to bring back the general secretary post, which was reserved for Jayalalithaa at the July 11 General Council meeting.
After a legal battle lasting several months, the Supreme Court declared the General Council meeting that appointed Palaniswami as interim general secretary as valid, following which the AIADMK conducted organisational polls.
The validation by the EC, in the form of uploading the letter from EPS, came exactly a year after Palaniswami was appointed as interim general secretary by the AIADMK GC.
Party leaders said the EC recognizing EPS as the General Secretary of the AIADMK was a “mere formality”, saying there was no doubt about the leadership due to overwhelming support for Palaniswami in the organisation.
“Panneerselvam has no right to use the AIADMK symbol and flag as he was expelled from the party last year. We will seek legal action against him if he continues to use the flag,” former minister D Jayakumar said.
In the letter, Palaniswami said the party amended its Rules and Regulations on 11 July 2022, abolishing the post of Coordinator and Joint Co-ordinator and re-establishing the post of General Secretary.
“The Elections to the post of General Secretary were announced on 17.03.2023 and the election results of the same were announced on 28.03.2023. Between 11.07.2022 and 28-03-2023, the affairs of the party were conducted by the interim General Secretary as contemplated in the Rules and Regulations,” he said in the letter,
The AIADMK leader also enclosed details of the appointments made by him after taking over as the general secretary. “Some of the elected representatives have since deceased or have moved away to another political party or have been expelled from the party for disciplinary reasons or anti-party activities. These posts are yet to be filled. The same shall be done in due course,” Palaniswami said.
The AIADMK now has a presidium chairman, two deputy general secretaries, and a treasurer, besides dozens of organising secretaries.