Madras HC sets aside civil court order upholding petition challenging EPS' election as AIADMK gen sec

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Thursday set aside an order of a city court dismissing the application of former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami seeking rejection of a petition challenging his election as AIADMK's general secretary. Suryamoorthy of Dindigul, who claimed to belong to the AIADMK, had filed a case in the Chennai Civil Court challenging the announcement of Palaniswami as the party chief at its general council meeting held here on July 11, 2022, and also against the resolutions passed on the occasion.

The civil court had dismissed a petition filed by Palaniswami seeking the dismissal of the case against him. On Thursday, Justice P B Balaji set aside the civil court's order dismissing Palaniswami’s application. Also, he dismissed the case filed by Suryamoorthy in the lower Court. During the trial of the case, Palaniswami had claimed that Suryamoorthy was not a member of the party since 2018. A person who was not a member of AIADMK cannot raise questions about party matters. It was argued that Suryamoorthy contested against the AIADMK general secretary in the Edappadi Assembly constituency in the 2021 elections.