The Supreme Court, on Thursday, February 23, upheld the amendments made to the bye-laws of the All India Anna Dravida Kazhagam (AIADMK) party in July last year. A bench of justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy passed the judgement on a batch of pleas related to the amendments made to the AIADMK party bye-laws that led to the appointment of Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) as the party’s interim General Secretary.
This would be a major setback to O Panneerselvam (OPS), who has been contesting the amendments to the bye-laws that rendered his position - Coordinator of the party - moot. The verdict has come a day ahead of party supremo late Jayalalithaa’s birthday. While the bench upheld the amendments made to the bye-laws of the party, issues other than the validity of the amendments have been left open.
Both the party leaders went to the apex court following the amendments that led to the appointment of EPS as the party’s interim General Secretary and abolished the post of Party Coordinator - that of Panneerselvam. While the latter contested the amendments, EPS sought to uphold the bye-laws. The tussle between EPS and OPS started on July 11, 2022, when EPS was made the interim General Secretary of AIADMK at the General Council meeting. Until then, AIADMK had a dual leadership system with OPS as Coordinator and EPS as the Joint Coordinator. On June 14, a demand for unitary leadership for the party emerged, following which both leaders locked horns over the party leadership. On June 23, the General Council meeting was convened, but no changes were made as the Madras HC restrained the party’s General Council from adopting any new resolution on unitary leadership.
However, the meeting witnessed high drama with OPS facing protests, abuse, and bottles hurled at him and his supporters. Later, the Supreme Court allowed the party to hold the meeting without any restrictions. Following this, on July 11, the party General Council meeting was held where resolutions were brought in to change the party bye-laws and remove the dual leadership structure of the party. It was at this meeting that Palaniswami was appointed as the interim General Secretary of the party.
After the meeting elected Palaniswami as the interim General Secretary, Panneerselvam and his supporters reached the AIADMK office staking claim, and clashes broke out between the supporters of the rival leaders. This led to the sealing of the headquarters and both the leaders sacking each other from the party. Later, the Madras HC ordered to hand over the keys of the headquarters to Palaniswami. Since this incident and the appointment of EPS as interim General Secretary, the duo has been approaching courts with their respective petitions, and multiple orders have been passed by the Madras High Court and the apex court in related matters. The bench comprising of justices Maheshwari and Roy reserved the judgement on January 11, after an extensive hearing of both parties.