On Thursday, the Madras High Court dismissed an appeal filed by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader O Panneerselvam (OPS), who has been expelled from the party. OPS had filed an appeal against a single judge order which restrained him from using the AIADMK flag, party symbol and the official letterhead.
A division bench comprising Justices R Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq dismissed OPS’ appeal noting that there existed no grounds for interfering with the single judge’s order of November 2023.
In November 2023, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), had filed a civil suit seeking an injunction restraining OPS from using the party flag, symbol and letterhead as he had been expelled from the AIADMK. ON November 7, a single judge division bench, comprising Justice N Sathish Kumar, had granted this interim injunction and OPS subsequently filed an appeal.
EPS had stated in November that OPS had been expelled from the party and his continued use of the AIADMK symbol, flag and letterhead, was confusing the voters. He added that the Election Commission recognized them under clause 15 of the election symbols (reservation and allotments) order, 1968. Since OPS had been expelled from the party, he had no legal rights to use them, was EPS’ contention.
EPS won a big battle against OPS in early 2023 when the Election Commission of India (EC) recognised him as general secretary of the AIADMK. The dual leadership held between EPS and OPS was abolished and EPS became the sole leader of the party. The EC also allotted the two-leaves symbol to AIADMK and stated that all AIADMK candidates were free to use it. At the time, EPS stated, “This journey has been rough for me.
It was full of thorns. So many tests and betrayals. But we have now overcome all the problems created by traitors. The struggle to protect AIADMK’s 1.5 crore cadre went up to the Supreme Court and we won. Now, our victory is that the ECI has recognised us.”
The dismissal of OPS’ appeal on Thursday will be seen as another significant win for Edappadi K Palaniswami ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
