Chennai, July 16(BPNS)
The opposition AIADMK will conduct its massive organizational elections soon and an announcement will be made on the same in a week’s time. The party has recently conducted a meeting of district general secretaries and state office bearers at its headquarters in Chennai during last week and has decided to conduct the polls.
The organizational elections were last held in 2014 and Jayalalithaa was elected as party general secretary with a massive mandate. However, during these elections, there is much at stake as the party power structure is now controlled by the Coordinator and Joint Coordinator with former Chief Minister’s O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami being the main contender for the top posts.
It is to be noted that the rift between the two will again come to the fore during the organization elections and party leadership at the grass-root level is already in the preparatory mode for the organizational elections which will be spread over a period of four to six months.
Elections will be held for party office bearers for the branch, town, corporation, and district level with each unit electing nine members. Interestingly the AIADMK had amended its bylaw in 2019 to keep V.K.Sasikala at bay. According to the new bylaw, a person who is contesting for the posts of coordinator or joint coordinator should continuously be a member of the party for five years in a row without any break.
A person who has left the party on their own or removed by the coordinator and joint coordinator will cease to be a member of the party according to the amended bylaw. This, according to a senior leader was clearly formulated to check, V.K.Sasikala at bay as she was removed from the party after she was sentenced to imprisonment for amassing wealth disproportionate to her income.
While earlier the general secretary was directly elected by the cadres, according to the amended bylaw the coordinator and joint coordinator are elected by the general council. The party bylaw states that the secretaries of unions, municipalities and districts, and secretaries of the state units are members of the general council owing to the position they hold.
The amended bylaw also has provisions for the coordinator and joint coordinator to nominate 100 members to the general council.
There will be organizational elections for the post of district secretaries and these district secretaries will have a voice in the election of the coordinator and joint coordinator in the general council.
S. Sivasankar, journalist and social activist based out of Madurai while speaking to BPNS said, “The AIADMK organizational elections are keenly watched in Tamil Nadu as this is the first election after the period of Jayalalithaa who was holding the post of the powerful General Secretary since 1988 till her passing away. The organizational elections may lead to an open fight between O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami.”
