"Dual Power Structure Not In Force": AIADMK's Edappadi Palaniswami

Amendments, related to top two party posts,made to party by-laws on December 1, 2021 were not ratified by the General Council which met on June 23, 2022, senior leader and EPS loyalist, C V Shanmugam said.

The AIADMK's dominant Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) faction on Friday asserted that the system of dual leadership, that vested powers on Coordinator O Panneerselvam (OPS) and Joint Coordinator EPS ceased to be in force, a day after the General Council stood firm on the single leadership demand.

Amendments, related to top two party posts,  made to party by-laws on December 1, 2021 were not ratified by the General Council which met on June 23, 2022, senior leader and EPS loyalist, C V Shanmugam said.

Last year, by-laws were tweaked to retain and further strengthen the dual system of leadership, favouring OPS and EPS. After the by-laws were amended, OPS and EPS were declared elected unopposed as Coordinator and Co-Coordinator.

Such amendments made it mandatory that the nominees to the two top posts of Coordinator and Joint Coordinator should be elected by the party's primary members through a single vote, Shanmugam told reporters.