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Sunday, 15 December 2013

‘We will protest if silence continues’

A group of MIC leaders are planning a “huge” protest outside the party headquarters soon, as the MIC leadership continues its silence over the party's recent election.

PETALING JAYA: Disgruntled MIC leaders would hold a protest in front of the party headquarters if the party does not respond to allegations of malpractice in the just concluded party polls.

A MIC leader, who declined to be named, said a group of party leaders were planning the protest to pressure the MIC leadership to break its deafening silence over the allegations.

The MIC polls held on Nov 30 in Malacca, was marred with allegations of fraudulent votes being cast, among others.

The polls process came under close scrutiny after candidates found disparity between votes cast and ballots counted.

Several quarters have also alleged that the total number of delegates who voted to pick three vice-presidents and 23 central working committee members were not identical.

The MIC held its internal elections to pick three vice presidents and 23 members to the party’s all powerful central working committee. A total eight candidates contested for the veep positions while a whopping 88 aspirants fought it out for the CWC seats.

Todate several leaders have tendered their appeal to the party leadership to declare the polls null and void due to the discrepancies.

Party president G Palanivel has yet to make an official stand on the matter. The president has also yet to appoint the party secretary general, treasurer general and the information chief.

Palanivel’s silence has thrown the party into confusion as leaders and members are unsure if the new leaders picked on Nov 30 are the actual office bearers of the party.

“Everyone is in the dark. We just cannot be issuing press statement one after another. The president must wake up and answer all the allegations. Otherwise, we have to wake him up by holding this protest.

“We know it is bad for party image. But we do not mind as our agenda is to save the party from sinking to a new low,” said the leader who declined to be named.

The leader also slammed Palanivel labeling him as “selfish and not fit to lead the party”.

“The party is in a crisis but Palanivel is enjoying his holidays overseas,” he said.

He said Palanivel was doing nothing to get back the trust of Indian community instead was only keen in holding on to the party presidency.

Meanwhile, when contacted, former MIC youth chief T Mohan confirmed that he has also sent in his appeal to the party headquarters demanding for a recount of votes.

Mohan said while he accepted defeat he was not satisfied the way the election was conducted.

“I strongly believe the election was not clean,” “For now I will wait for the president’s response. If he does not respond, I will discuss with other candidates on our next step,” he added.

Mohan contested the vice president post but lost coming in sixth of the eight candidates.

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