The Madras High Court on Thursday stayed all proceedings by the Election Commission relating to a dispute over the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s “two leaves” poll symbol, Live Law reported.
The bench of Justice R Subramanian and Justice C Kumarappan passed the interim orders on a petition filed by AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.
The former chief minister had sought to block the poll panel from conducting quasi-judicial proceedings into the party’s leadership dispute based on individual representations made by expelled party members, The Hindu reported.
“Looking back into the representation that you made earlier, we don't think it was bonafide,” Live Law quoted the bench as having observed orally. “The ECI cannot act like this. The counsels should be at least fair to the court.”
The counsel representing Palaniswami informed the court that a person named S Surya Moorthi had submitted a representation to the poll panel in February 2024 seeking to freeze the AIADMK’s election symbol. The person had also filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission to consider the representation.
The writ petition was disposed of by a division bench led by Subramanian on December 4, after the Election Commission said it would decide on the representation within a month, Live Law reported.
Subsequently, the poll panel issued notices to the AIADMK on representations made by persons who had been expelled from the party, Palaniswami’s counsel said.
The lawyer said that the party had received notices on the representations filed by six expelled members and questioned if the Election Commission had the jurisdiction to decide on the party’s internal matters on the basis of such pleas, The Hindu reported.
The grievances raised by the expelled members would neither come under the 1950 Representation of the People Act or the 1968 Election Symbols Reservation and Allotment Order, Palaniswami argued.
Questioning the maintainability of the plea, the Election Commission told the court that the petitioner appeared to have filed it presuming that the poll panel would take up matters over which it had no jurisdiction.
However, the court said that while disposing of Moorthi’s petition, it had not given the Election Commission the authority to decide on the party’s leadership dispute. It had only recorded the poll panel’s submission that the representation would be considered, according to Live Law.
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