EPS vs. OPS: Madras High Court refuses to stay AIADMK General Secretary elections, General Council resolutions

The Madras High Court Tuesday refused to stay the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) General Secretary elections and rejected the interim applications filed by former Tamil Nadu deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) and three other expelled AIADMK party members. .Justice K Kumaresh Babu rejected the interim applications filed by OPS, PH Manoj Pandian, R Vaithilingam, and JCD Prabhakar seeking stay on the polls and also praying for directions to restrain AIADMK from giving effect to its July 11, 2022 General Council resolutions.The Court held that the Supreme Court, in its February 23 order, had already held that the convening of the General Council meeting was valid. Therefore, the unanimous decision taken by over 2,000 members of the General Council, which had the powers to amend the party bye-laws, was valid."I have already found found that there is no dispute as regards to the power of the General Council to amend the Rules and the fact that a overwhelming majority of the General Council had unanimously passed the resolution on 11.07.2022, to amend the bye-laws of the first respondent, I am of the view that prima facie, the resolutions passed in the General Council will have to be valid," the High Court said..The Court also said that if the contentions made by OPS and the others were accepted and an injunction was granted, it would result in a situation of "status-quo ante" ordered by the single-judge, which was later reversed by a division bench of the Madras High Court in September last year. The apex court had also affirmed the decision of the division bench and had observed that a situation of status quo would be detrimental to the interests of the party, the Court said..After Tuesday's order, Senior Advocates C Manishankar and Abdul Saleem, who appeared for OPS and the others, rushed to the division bench presided over by Justices R Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq to challenge the single-judge’s order and sought an urgent hearing on their appeal.The division bench agreed to hear them on Wednesday..In the July 11 meeting, the General Council had abolished the posts of Coordinator and Joint Coordinator, and instead declared OPS' political rival and former TN Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) as the interim General Secretary of the party. The Council had expelled OPS, Pandian and others from the party claiming they had indulged in anti-party activities. Senior counsel Guru Krishnakumar, who appeared for Pandian, had earlier argued that the party did not have the power to take extreme steps such as expelling primary members without even giving them a fair hearing. OPS and the others had argued that rules had been amended in favor of EPS, who had filed his nomination for the post of general secretary and was likely to be elected. They said that OPS was ready to contest the general secretary elections if given a chance. .However, EPS' counsel, Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan had told the Court that OPS and the others were trying to scuttle the voice of the party members by opposing the elections and the General Council resolutions. Senior Counsel Vijay Narayan, who appeared for the AIADMK, had also argued that courts cannot interfere with the internal matters of a political party. Senior Advocates CS Vaidyanathan and Vijay Narayan appeared for EPS and the AIADMK General Council. Senior Advocates PS Raman, C Manishankar, AK Sriram appeared for Paneerselvam, Pandian, Vaithilingam, and Prabhakar..[Read order]