Tamil Nadu: Relief For EPS, Setback For OPS As Supreme Court Recognises EPS As Interim General Secretary Of AIADMK

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy has upheld the changes to the by-laws of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), which allowed Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) to become the Interim General Secretary of the party.

The changes were made at the general council meeting of the party in July 2022.

It was during this meeting that O Panneerselvam (OPS) and members of his faction were expelled from the party.

Prior to the general council meeting, OPS was the Coordinator and EPS was the Joint Coordinator.

OPS had challenged both the validity of the general council meeting and the changes to the bylaws which allowed EPS to become the interim general secretary, in the Madras High Court.

OPS contended that EPS could not have called the general council meeting without his consent, as the party by-laws required them to jointly call for the meeting. EPS contended that at the time of the meeting they both had ceased to be coordinators.

A single-judge bench of the Madras High Court had ordered the restoration of the previous leadership structure in which OPS and EPS were the Coordinator and Joint Coordinator respectively. It also said that the general council meeting should have been called jointly.

However, this was overturned by a Division Bench of the Madras High Court. It upheld the election of EPS as interim general secretary and said that due to the feud between EPS and OPS, it was not possible for them to call for the general council meeting jointly, which would then lead to a functional deadlock.

It is this judgement of the Division Bench of the Madras High Court, that the Supreme Court has upheld today.

The Supreme Court has also said that it has not decided upon the matter of the validity of the July 2022 general council meeting or any other issues pending before the Madras High Court.