EPS to get elected as AIADMK general secretary soon

The move, according to party leaders, will further consolidate his place within AIADMK and allow him to take decisions to rejuvenate the party cadre

Fresh from the victory in the Supreme Court, the AIADMK is moving towards holding general secretary polls to enable Edappadi K Palaniswami to get elected to the top post as the party braces up for the crucial Lok Sabha polls in 2024. Party leaders will meet on March 10 here to moot a proposal to hold elections to the post in line with an amendment made to the AIADMK Constitution in July 2022.

The move, according to party leaders, will further consolidate the position of Palaniswami within the AIADMK and allow him to take decisions to rejuvenate the party cadre and devise strategies to end the party’s successive electoral defeats. The AIADMK hasn’t won any elections since the death of its leader J Jayalalithaa in 2016 – it lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2021 Assembly polls to the DMK alliance in Tamil Nadu.

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The leaders said the March 10 meeting will discuss the need to hold elections for the GS post as Palaniswami was appointed as interim general secretary by the July 11 General Council. The GC had also decided that a new GS should be elected within four months, but the elections couldn’t be held as expelled leader O Panneerselvam challenged Palaniswami’s appointment in the Supreme Court.

“Now that the SC verdict has come in our favour, we believe the elections should be held immediately. If the party has to put up a spirited fight against the DMK in 2024, we need to have a strong person at the helm who can take decisions on time. We hope the election schedule will be out after the March 10 meeting,” a senior AIADMK leader told DH.

Besides GS elections, the meeting will also discuss several other issues, including the BJP’s criticism of the AIADMK admitting leaders who quit the party. AIADMK leaders said the party machinery needs to be spruced up before the 2024 elections and it was imperative to have an elected leadership at the top to ensure that those at the ground level work for the party.

The court battle came to an end, at least for now, on February 23 when the SC declared the GC meeting and its decision as valid.