Kuala Lumpur – As MIC enters into a highly politically charged 2016, the question before everyone is whether it will be an election year again.
The party elections held in 2013 were declared null and void by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) and the re-elections were held on 6th of November 2015. Therefore technically 2016 is an election year as MIC elections are held triennially.
The after-effects of the party elections held on 6th of November 2015 have not even settled yet. So is the party ready to face another bitter political battle one more round?
Party sources said if the elections are held this year again it will be a bitter do-or-die battle among aspiring candidates and it will be even more intense than it was in 2015.
Challenge for President and Deputy President
The first question is whether there will be a challenge for Presidency. MIC sources are of the opinion, as of now there will not be a serious challenge for party President’s post as the next line of leaders in MIC are more concerned in positioning themselves as Deputy President or as one of the 3 Vice-Presidents.
However, a keen contest is expected for the coveted Deputy Presidency as Datuk M.Saravanan is expected to mount another challenge, this time against the incumbent Datuk Seri S.K.Devamany.
Saravanan lost to Devamany by 18 votes in the contest for Deputy Presidency held on Nov 6 last year.
Even for the 3 Vice-Presidential posts, more candidates are expected to join in the race. Some 342 branches have joined back MIC since the November 6 party elections, and this is expected to increase the number of aspiring candidates.
More branches currently outside are expected to join back the party during the month of January 2016, as the dateline to pay the subscription quotas for the year 2016 has been extended until 31st January 2016.
But will there be an election in the first place?
What the Constitution says?
Clause 68.1 of the MIC Constitution reads as follows:-
“The General Assembly of the Congress shall be held not later than the 30th day of September of each year, unless otherwise decided by the Central Working Committee subject to statutory provisions”
Therefore, the CWC has the power to postpone the general assembly this year to a later date, which means the party elections will also be automatically postponed. UMNO has already postponed its elections due this year to a later date after the 14th general election and MCA is also expected to follow suit. Party elections for both UMNO and MCA are due this year.
Citing GE14 which is due by May 2018, MIC will easily get the consent and approval of the CWC members to postpone the general assembly this year. The entire CWC is not interested in going through another election within months and is expected to readily approve for the postponement.
There are also another two clauses which may contradict or complicate any move by CWC to postpone party elections. Clause 58.2 states that the President “shall hold office for three years or until the conclusion of the next Presidential election, whichever is later”.
Another clause of the MIC Constitution 59.5, states that “The CWC shall triennially call for the nomination of candidates for the election of Deputy President, three Vice-Presidents and 23 CWC members….”
Reading all the clauses together, there is an interesting legal point before the consideration of CWC now. That is, whether by virtue of elections held in 2015, the elected office-bearers are to hold office for a period of 3 years from 2015, OR since the elections held in 2015 is merely a re-election of the 2013 election, should there be another one in 2016?
RoS must endorse any decision to postpone
Any decision by the CWC to postpone the elections must be endorsed by the Registrar of Societies (RoS). It is pertinent to note here that in 2013, Datuk Seri G.Palanivel made an attempt to postpone the elections due that year but it was rejected by RoS.
RoS will have to decide whether there are any statutory provisions that may prevent CWC from postponing the general assembly along with the party elections this year. One such provision would the requirement that the party’s annual report and accounts must be submitted as per section 14 of the Societies Act 1966.
The month of January will be a busy month for MIC Headquarters as the branches will be settling their subscription quotas for the current year. The dateline for such payments has been extended to 31st January 2016. Some of the branches still outside the party and those branches which failed to file their nominations on the 19th December 2016 are expected to be given a second chance by the party. However MIC President Dr Subramaniam has clearly said there will not be any negotiations with the so called ‘Palanivel faction’.
If it is going to be an election year then the branches will have to hold their AGMs and their respective branch elections by March 2016. Therefore, the CWC is expected to decide by February 2016, whether the party elections will be held this year.
-R.Mutharasan
