MIC leaders to proceed with party elections

PETALING JAYA: MIC leaders have pledged to proceed with fresh elections regardless of the outcome of the judicial review against the Registrar of Societies (RoS) which is expected tomorrow.
"We are geared for the party elections, even if the court decides in our favour ... the polls will go on," party president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel told a press conference after meeting 320 Perak MIC branch leaders and members today.
MIC deputy president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the party could proceed with the elections unless the court ordered otherwise.
"If they don't then we will proceed," he told the media after attending a luncheon with Penang MIC leaders today.
Subramanian also urged for polls to be conducted soon and warned that the party risked de-registration if the RoS directive was not followed.
Palanivel and Subramaniam's comments is in contrast to MIC information chief L. Sivasubramaniam who last week said elections were on hold pending the court's decision.
Former MIC strategic director Datuk Seri S. Vell Paari and former treasurer-general Datuk R. Ramanan told theSun today that Sivasubramaniam's statement had no basis.
"Even the court has no power to stop the timeline given by RoS before de-registering the party unless fresh elections are held," said Ramanan.
Both Vell Paari and Ramanan also took Sivasubramaniam to task over his statement that Palanivel and four others who filed the judicial review against the RoS are still party members.
"Let it be interim or permanent CWC, if one fails to refer or be bound by the decision of the CWC, and proceeds with court proceedings without consulting the CWC, he or she cease to be a member of MIC," said Vell Paari.
Palanivel, his two vice-presidents, Datuk S. Sothinathan, Datuk S. Balakrishnan and a public officer filed a judicial review at the High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) registry on March 2, naming the RoS and Home Ministry as respondents.
On Feb 23, MIC strategic director A. K. Ramalingam, who is also a member of the Central Working Committee (CWC) through his lawyer, S. Selvam, filed the first judicial review application against the RoS to quash its directive to hold fresh elections by July this year.
The two filings come after the RoS on Dec 5 notified the MIC that the 2013 polls for the vice-president and its CWC seats as well as some divisional elections were null and void due to certain irregularities and ordered fresh polls.