The highlight of the 20 amendments to the AIADMK’s bylaws, adopted at the general council meeting on Monday, was the repeal of Rule 20, which described the late Jayalalithaa as the “eternal general secretary” of the party.
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Rule 20 was inserted during the September 2017 general council, when the two factions of the AIADMK — Amma and Puratchi Thalaivi Amma — headed by Edappadi K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam, respectively, formally came together. It was also decided then that the post stood abolished. The repeal of Rule 20 had become a prerequisite to reviving the post of general secretary.
The post of general secretary has been revived by amending Rule 20A, which earlier provided for the posts of coordinator and co-coordinator (joint coordinator). The party has brought back the stipulation that the general secretary should be elected by the primary members of the party, a condition that was prevalent during the leadership of party founder M.G. Ramachandran and his successor Jayalalithaa. This has been made “beyond deletion, amendment and relaxation.”
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In September 2017, originally, it was laid down that the coordinator and co-coordinator would be elected by members of the general council. However, this was changed in December 2021 ,through a special resolution at the executive’s meeting, to stipulate that the incumbents would be elected by primary members through single vote. Referring to the September 2017 stipulation, the Delhi High Court observed in February 2019 in VK Sasikala vs Election Commission Of India that “the change in nomenclature of the posts may not amount to much, but the change of electors definitely disturbs the constitution of the party”.
As against the usual qualification, mentioned in Rule 30 (v) of the party’s bylaws, that those who wanted to contest the posts of office-bearers should have been members of the party for five years without any break, the new Rule 20A (i) (a) states that aspiring candidates for the post of general secretary should have been in the organisation for 10 years continuously. Besides, he or she should have served as a headquarters office-bearer for a minimum of five years at a stretch. The nomination of every candidate for the post should be proposed by at least 10 party district secretaries and seconded by 10 others. A district secretary could propose or second only one candidate.
All the powers, hitherto available with the coordinator and co-coordinator, have been transferred to the general secretary, through amendments to 13 sub-rules of Rule 20A. Most importantly, the power of signing on the authorisation forms for the allotment of the party’s symbol of ‘two leaves’ will hereafter lie with the general secretary.
The party has decided to do away with the post of deputy coordinator. Instead, it has approved the re-introduction of the post of deputy general secretary. In respect of deputy coordinators, there were certain conditions, including the mode of election through the general council. But, hereafter, incumbents for the deputy general secretary will be the nominees of the general secretary. The party has also removed the provision regarding the advisory committee, which was inserted five years ago.