The Supreme Court ordered that the names shortlisted by EPS be circulated amongst the 2,600 general council members of AIADMK for voting.
AIADMK members including EPS at the Anna Memorial in Chennai. (AIADMKOfficial/Twitter)
The Supreme Court on Friday, 3 February, ordered that the three names shortlisted by the AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswamy (EPS) be circulated amongst its 2,600 general council members for voting to select one to be fielded for Erode East Assembly byelection.
According to the order, the chairman of the AIADMK praesidium A Tamil Magan Hussain will communicate the name of the selected candidate to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the allotment of the party’s “Two Leaves” election symbol.
A bench of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Hrishikesh Roy said that for the limited purpose of selecting the candidate for Erode East Assembly constituency and communicating his name to the poll panel, the expulsion of the former Tamil Nadu chief minister Ottakarathevar Panneerselvamon (OPS) and three others would also participate in the voting process for selecting a candidate.
The “via media” (middle way) by keeping both EPS and the OPS out of the picture for the selection of candidates for the Erode East Assembly seat was ordered by the bench after EPS cold-shouldered an offer by the OPS faction that the latter would sign a form for the allotment of party symbol to a candidate decided by the EPS faction.
The “via media” order by the top court suggested that both EPS and OPS were not in the picture as far as the byelection was concerned, and that the AIADMK would not go unrepresented in the contest — the essence of democracy.
Senior advocate Guru Krishna Kumar, appearing for the OPS faction, said that it did not want the AIADMK going unrepresented in the Erode East byelection.
However, senior advocate CA Sundaram, appearing for EPS, did not appear enthusiastic about the offer.
The bench made it clear that its order was limited just to the byelection to Erode East Assembly seat, and it neither conferred nor denuded either of the factions of any right.
The court said this noting that its judgment on the 11 July, 2022, general council meeting, an amendment to the AIADMK bylaws doing away with dual leadership (of coordinator and joint coordinator between OPS & EPS), and restoring unitary leadership and other issues, were reserved.
Polling for the Erode East Assembly byelection will be held on 27 February, while the last date for filing nominations is 7 February. The result will be announced on 2 March.
At the outset of the hearing, senior advocate Parag Tripathi told the court that the ECI was holding its hands as the judgment on most of the contentious issues involving the AIADMK’s leadership row, including the general council meeting and the amendments to the bylaws, had been reserved by the top court on 11 January.
The Erode East seat fell vacant after the death of Thirumahan Everaa, son of the senior Congress leader and former Tamil Nadu Congress president EVKS Elangovan. Thirumahan Everaa died on 4 January.
In its general council meeting held on 11 July, 2022, the dual-leadership model in the AIADMK was ended and OPS was expelled from the party for “anti-party” activities during the party meeting.
In the meeting, EPS was appointed as the interim general secretary of the party.
Since the passing away of the former chief minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa, the party had a dual leadership with OPS and EPS leading it as coordinator and joint coordinator, respectively.
However, more recently, disputes arose between both leaders, with the EPS group pressing for unitary leadership.
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