Huge protest planned against Palanivel

There were no satisfactory answers on allegations of election fraud at the MIC CWC meeting yesterday and several disgruntled leaders want the president to step down.

KUALA LUMPUR: Several disgruntled MIC leaders are planning a huge protest to force party president G. Palanivel to step down for not calling for a re-election as the earlier one was marred by allegations of electoral fraud.

A party leader said many were unhappy with Palanivel for ignoring their request to hold a re-election for the central working committee and three vice-presidents’ posts.

He said the protest was to show Palanivel that he had made a mistake in not calling for a re-election.

“The protest will definitely be held in front of the party headquarters. If this does not work then we will go to the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry (in which Palanivel is the minister). We are even prepared to protest outside the Prime Minister’s office.

“This will be part of our campaign to oust Palanivel, who is killing the MIC. We want to save MIC and want Palanivel out, to stop him from destroying the party.

“We will come out in the open soon and you will be surprised to know how many leaders are behind us,” he said.

The party held elections to pick the three vice-presidents and 23 CWC members in Nov 30 last year. Several candidates who lost in the polls have cried foul over the way the elections were conducted.

They have also questioned why there was a difference between the number of delegates and the votes cast.

Several leaders have collectively submitted memorandums to the party leadership urging for a re-election. They have also sought the assistance of the Registrar of Societies on the matter.

At the CWC meeting yesterday, Palanivel said the party’s decision-making body had accepted the results and no re-election request would be entertained.

It is learnt that the decision was made after the two-hour meeting, which saw several leaders debating the matter for just 30 minutes.

Sources, who attended the meeting, said the election committee felt strongly against a re-election although it did not give satisfactory answers on allegations of fraud.

“The election committee’s explanation confused us even more,” a CWC member told FMT.

“Running the elections as per party by-laws, does not mean it was carried out fairly.

“The election committee should have cleared all the allegations before upholding the results,” he added.

In the polls held in Malacca on Nov 30, eight candidates contested the vice-presidency while 88 fought it out for the 23 CWC seats.

So far, seven petitions had been submitted to the party leadership wanting the polls declared null and void.

Meanwhile, a first-term CWC member said he was disappointed with the way the meeting was held.

“I was excited to attend the meeting for the first time and had even prepared a few questions.

“But I was shocked when Palanivel abruptly called off the meeting mid-way during question time saying that he was late for an appointment.

“I don’t know what can be more important that the CWC meeting for the president.

“He just refused to go in deeper into allegations of fraud in the polls.

“I was told that he finished the meeting early to go to a temple. My advice to him, next time have the CWC meeting in a temple instead of the party headquarters,” said the leader in jest.

He said most of the questions directed to Palanivel on the election was not answered by him.

“Barat Maniam (V Subramaniam, the Petaling Jaya Selatan MIC division chief) was answering on behalf of Palanivel, while the president was busy enjoying snacks at the meeting.

“If this is the way the party leadership holds its meetings, then I am sure the party will meet its demise sooner than later,” he said.

The MIC CWC also appointed bureau chiefs at its meeting yesterday.

KS Nijhar, who is a close ally of Palanivel, retains the disciplinary bureau chief post, while deputy ministers M Saravanan and P Kamalanathan are in charge of the Youth and Sports, and Education bureaus respectively.

The other appointments are:

Senator A Sivabakiam (Service Centre and Wellfare Committee);

R Ragu Moorthy (Economic and Business Committee);

K Palani Samy (KP Samy) (Cultural Committee);

G Kumar Amman (Green Technology and Environmental Committee);

V Subramaniam (Barat Maniam) (Branch and Membership committee);

S Murugessan, M Selva Kumar (Constitution Amendments Committee);

R Ganesan, Siva Paranjothi and M Karupannan (Yayasan Strategic); and Randir Singh (Social).