MIC polls next month

Branch elections will start on July 12 instead of in December

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC’s internal elections will commence next month instead of December, as decided barely two months ago by its central working committee (CWC).

Party president G Palanivel made the surprising announcement at a press conference today, saying the CWC decided on the re-scheduling at an emergency meeting this morning.

The party’s highest decision-making body decided that branch elections would be held between July 12 and Aug 4, divisional elections in September and October and the presidential election on Sept 22.

The nomination date for the presidential election is Sept 1.

Elections for the other top national posts, including that of deputy president, will be held in November.

MIC held its last elections in 2009, when S Samy Vellu won the presidency uncontested. He relinquished the post in 2010. Palanivel, then his deputy, became acting president.

Fresh elections were due in 2012, but the party decided to postpone them in order to prepare for the 13th general election.

Soon after the May 5 general election, the party announced that it would begin conducting internal elections in December. This would have meant that polling for the top posts could be held only in 2014. Opponents of the decision said they feared that the party was going against its constitution, which requires fresh elections every three years.

A branch leader subsequently lodged a complaint to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) and the Home Ministry said last week that the ROS would come out with a verdict soon.

“ROS met me twice and advised me to complete the party elections before Dec 31 this year,” Palanivel told reporters.

He also announced that the next term would be his last as party president since he was already 64 years old.

The CWC today has also discussed amending the party constitution to restrict those holding top national positions to two terms.

“We will restrict the term,” Palanivel said. “A leader can only hold the same national position for two terms. We will amend the party constitution and table it at the CWC for further discussions.”

He also said that the party had withdrawn show-cause letters issued to six MIC grassroots leaders for criticising the party through the media.

The six are RS Maniam (Kota Rajah), G Jeyakumar (Gombak division), M Veloo (Teluk Kemang division), TH Subra (deputy chairman of Sungai Petani division), S Kalimuthu (Tasek Permai Baru branch chairman) and S Ramesh Kumar (an ordinary member of the Mersing Kiri branch).

The CWC also withdrew the show-cause letter it issued to M Asojan, secretary of Johor MIC.

However, it decided to issue a show cause letter to Petaling Jaya Selatan division chief V Subramaniam, better known as Barat Maniam, for personal attacks against party vice president M Saravanan in the media.

Palanivel also said the number of MIC branches had increased from 3,700 to 3,988.