Madras HC rejects PIL against AIADMK's internal party election

Chennai, Dec 14 (IANS) The Madras High Court on Tuesday rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging an internal election in AIADMK to select the party coordinator and joint coordinator.The PIL was filed by a party member, J. Jayachandran, citing that the inter-party election was held in an arbitrary manner, allowing only O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami to file nominations to contest the elections.The first bench of the Madras High court comprising Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice P.D. Adikesavalu held that the Election Commission of India does not have any role in the inter-party election, and hence no orders could be issued to the Election Commission regarding the plea.The petitioner, Jayachandran, wanted the court to restrain from announcing the results of the election pending the disposal of the plea.Jayachandran also wanted the Madras High Court to direct the Election Commission not to accord sanction to the newly created posts of coordinator and joint coordinator in the party.It may be noted that former Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami, are leading the party as Coordinator and Joint Coordinator respectively. This was challenged through a PIL by the petitioner which was promptly dismissed by the court.
--IANS aal/dpb

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