Edappadi K Palaniswami (R) and O Paneerselvam
Credit: PTI Photo
AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami has approached the Madras High Court seeking to restrain expelled leader O Paneerselvam from claiming to be the party coordinator and using the party's two leaves symbol, flag and letter head.
When a suit filed by Palaniswami came up for hearing on Thursday, Justice R N Manjula ordered notice to Paneerselvam and posted the matter to October 6 for further hearing.
In his suit Palaniswami, the plaintiff, sought to restrain Paneerselvam from interfering with his functioning as the general secretary of the AIADMK. He made a plea to restrain Paneerselvam from continuing to claim to be the AIADMK coordinator while he was expelled from the party in 2022.
In his plea, Palaniswami said the Election Commission in no uncertain terms has recognised him as the general secretary, the top post, and has uploaded the amended bylaws and list of office bearers on its official website.
Panneerselvam is deliberately misrepresenting by claiming to be AIADMK coordinator when no such post exists in the party any more. Panneerselvam has been 'wilfully and fraudulently damaging the reputation of the AIADMK by misusing its official letter heads and misleading the public into believing that he is still continuing as the coordinator of the party,' the AIADMK general secretary submitted.
Pointing to an announcement of Panneerselvam that he would undertake a state-wide yatra, the AIADMK top leader said in that yatra, there is every possibility of him misrepresenting and misusing AIADMK's name and illegally claiming to be the party coordinator.
"It is therefore important that the defendant (Panneerselvam) is injuncted from claiming as a member or leader of the AIADMK party."
A permanent injunction ought to be granted against Panneerselvam and his supporters restraining them from claiming to be the AIADMK leaders, using the official letter head, flag and symbol of the AIADMK.
Following his expulsion, Panneerselvam has lost several rounds of legal battles with Palaniswami.