Decide AIADMK plea to take on record party's amended bye-laws in ten days: Delhi High Court to Election Commission

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI) to decide AIADMK's representations asking the poll body to take on record the amended bye-laws of the party within ten days. .The AIADMK amended its bye-laws in July 2022, expelling former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam from the party and appointing E Palaniswamy as the General Secretary..Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav passed the order today after Advocate Siddhant Kumar stated that the ECI is considering the representation and will take a final decision on the same within ten days.Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for AIADMK and stated that the Commission may consider passing the order by Monday so that the party's candidates can take part in the upcoming Karnataka elections. The Court said that it cannot force the ECI to do the same. However, Kumar assured the Court that if the Commission can take a call earlier, it will. The Court also allowed Panneerselvam and the other expelled Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to raise their grievances before the ECI and take legal remedies available to them..The AIADMK and E Palaniswamy had approached the High Court seeking directions to the ECI to add in its records the amended bye-laws of the party through which Palaniswami was appointed the interim General Secretary of the party and O Panneerselvam was expelled.The amended bye-laws also abolished the dual leadership system in the party through which Palaniswami and Panneerselvam shared power.It was stated that the party has made several representations to the ECI for the same, but the Commission is yet to take any final decision..In their plea, AIADMK and Palaniswamy stated that the stand of the Commission is that the records of the party are not being updated because of certain internal disputes in the party. The plea argued that this is wholly contrary to the various settled legal principles as well as the stand taken by the ECI in the Shiv Sena dispute, where the Commission exercised its plenary power to decide the issue irrespective of internal issues pending in that party."It is the duty of the ECI, as a State authority to provide a reasonable reply to representations submitted by a political party. Till date, the ECI has deliberately chosen not to reply to any representations submitted by the Petitioner Political party Thus the inaction of ECI in the present case is plain violative of Article 14 of Constitution of India and ECI by not updating its recrods w.r.t. AIADMK Party is arbitrarily treating the equals as unequals," the plea stated. .It was also argued that the power of the ECI under Section 29A (9) of the Representation of People's Act, 1951 is to merely record the material changes/amendments to the constitution of a party and its office bearers."It (ECI) is not expected to embark on an enquiry or any investigation into the internal affairs of the party., Thus, the power of Section 29A (9) of the Representation of People's Act, 1951 is only ministerial and not adjudicatory."