Convene General Council meeting to select bye-poll candidates: Supreme Court to rival AIADMK factions

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party, which is currently witnessing a leadership tussle between two rival factions, to convene a general council meeting to select candidates for the upcoming bye-poll to the Erode East Assembly constituency. .A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy specified that the same was an interim arrangement, even as the judgment on the leadership tussle between the O Pannerselvam and Edapaddi Palaniswami remains reserved." ... without prejudice to the rights of any of the parties and without conferring any additional right in any of the parties, it is considered appropriate and hence provided thus : (1) The proposal as regards choosing the candidate of the party shall be placed for consideration and for final decision by the 5 General Council of the party. (2) As regards the decision-making process of the General Council for choosing the candidate and looking to the time constrains, it is also provided that this process may be taken up by placing the necessary resolution for consideration by way of circulation. (3) In this process of decision-making by the General Council for arriving at the name of a candidate to be put up by the party in the forthcoming bye-election of 98-Erode (East) Assembly Constituency, the persons who had allegedly been expelled from the party [namely S/Shri O. Panneerselvam (appellant), R. Vaithilingam, J.C.D. Prabakar and P.H. Manoj Pandian] and whose expulsion is also a matter of contentions, it is provided that such expulsion shall not operate so far as the present purpose is concerned ...(4) The ultimate decision of the General Council, as regards choice of the candidate shall be conveyed to the Election Commission of India by the Presidium Chairperson, Dr. A. Tamizh Magan Hussain; and such communication of the decision of General Council shall be accepted by the Election Commission of India as being the authorization on behalf of the party for the limited purpose of putting up its candidate in the forthcoming bye-election and the returning officer shall take necessary steps accordingly.".As per the top court's order, O Panneerselvam's expulsion from the party stands set aside for the time being. .Amidst the leadership crisis in the AIADMK after the party's defeat in the State elections in 2021, a section of the office-bearers sought to amend the party's by-laws so that there will be a single leader for the party.After the passing of former Chief Minister and the party's General Secretary J Jayalalithaa, and the arrest of the subsequent interim General Secretary V Sasikala, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam had held the posts of Joint coordinator and coordinator of the party, respectively. Their tenure, as per Panneerselvam, was supposed to lapse on June 23, 2022.However, the party held a General Council meeting on July 11, 2022 which passed resolutions to abolish these posts and restore the post of General Secretary. This effectively left Palaniswami at the helm. In the same meeting Panneerselvam, was removed from the post of coordinator and from its primary membership by the Palaniswami camp .Even though Panneerselvam was expelled, for the recent bye-elections in Tamil Nadu to the Erode east seat, both factions fielded candidates on behalf of the party, leading to the present application before the top court. The top court last month had reserved its verdict on an appeal moved by by the Panneerselvam camp against a Madras High Court ruling that had upheld the resolution passed at the general council meeting expelling him and appointing Palaniswami as interim general secretary. .[Read order]