Election Commission rejects AIADMK reply on Sasikala

New Delhi: The Election Commission has rejected the response filed by AIADMK on V.K. Sasikala’s elevation as interim general secretary of the party. The reason cited was that the reply was submitted by Ms Sasikala’s nephew T.T.V. Dinakaran, who is not on the poll panel’s list of party office bearers.

The poll body said that a response should be submitted by Ms Sasikala herself and it should come in by March 10.

Since Mr Dinakaran is not on the list of party office bearers, “hence the reply should either be submitted under your own signature or you may duly or you may duly authorise somebody to do so in your behalf,” the EC notice said.

The AIADMK has defended the decision to appoint Ms Sasikala as its interim general secretary, saying the general council of the party has the authority to make such an appointment. The party had said that those who later complained against her elevation had initially signed the resolution in her support.

It further said that the functioning of the party would have come to a standstill had a new general secretary not been appointed after the demise of Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa.

In its response to the February 17 notice by the Election Commission, the AIADMK also said the reply was signed by T.T.V. Dinakaran, Ms Sasikala’s nephew, who was hurriedly reinducted into the party and nominated AIADMK deputy general secretary just before she left for a Karnataka prison to serve her remaining term in a disproportionate assets case.

The poll panel had on February 17 asked Ms Sasikala to respond to a petition filed by the rival O. Panneerselvam camp against her appointment as AIADMK interim general secretary.