EC notice to Sasikala on appointment as AIADMK general secretary

The Election Commission (EC) on Friday served a notice to imprisoned AIADMK leader V K Sasikala asking her to respond to a petition challenging her appointment as the interim general secretary of the party.

The EC issued the notice acting on two sets of petitions filed by AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan on Thursday.

The poll panel sent the notice to Parappana Agrahara central jail on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

Sasikala had moved into the jail to serve her four-year prison term on Wednesday, a day after the Supreme Court upheld her conviction in a disproportionate assets case.
The EC asked Sasikala to respond to its notice by February 28.

Maitreyan, who belongs to the rival O Panneerselvam faction of the AIADMK, met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi and submitted the petitions.

Maitreyan argued that Sasikala had been appointed the interim general secretary on December 29 by the AIADMK general council, and not by the primary members of the party.

He also argued that the AIADMK general council was entrusted with the responsibility of framing policies and programmes, and was not mandated to appoint someone as general secretary of the party.

The poll panel wrote to Sasikala that if she failed to respond to the petition, it would be presumed that she had nothing to reply and the poll panel would proceed to act without her response.

Rebel AIADMK group ‘expels’ Sasikala
The fight within the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu intensified further on Friday with the rebel camp led by former chief minister O Panneerselvam `expelling’ AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala and her two nephews, including deputy general secretary T T V Dinakaran, from the primary membership of the party for violating party discipline and principles, DHNS reports from Chennai.

The ‘expulsion’ was announced by E Madhusudhanan, who was earlier ‘removed’ by the Sasikala faction from the post of presidium chairman and also from the membership of the party for siding with the Panneerselvam camp.