Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email After Muthu’s nominations were mostly rejected, leaving him with only 5, Samy Vellu was declared as MIC President for a record 11th consecutive term, after the party’s presidential nominations closed at the party headquarters on Sunday.
Samy Vellu obtained 455 nominations as opposed to five garnered by his challenger, former MIC vice president Datuk M. Muthupalaniappan.
Samy Vellu has been president since 1979, when he became the acting president after the death of then president Tan Sri V. Manikavasagam.
Samy Vellu’s win Sunday came on the date he had officially become the party supremo 28 years ago in 1981.
Vijayanathan, in making the announcement, said Samy Vellu had obtained 572 nominations in all but 117 nominations were rejected for non-compliance with the party constitution and the presidential election by-laws.
Muthupalaniappan had 53 nominations but 48 were rejected for the same reasons, he said.
“The election steering committee verified all the nomination papers and as a result of the verification, we rejected those nominations for both the contenders,” he added.
Looks like Muthu’s worst nightmare had become true:
Vijaynathan said: “Ninety-nine percent of the nominations were rejected for duplicity (branch chairpersons who nominated both candidates).”
Dismissing the allegation that the entire process was rigged, he said Muthupalaniappan’s chances were slim from the start.
“He was already treading a thin line, his safe margin was less than five percent.”
After filing his nomination papers, Muthupalaniappan told reporters that his rivals were using underhand tactics to disqualify him from the race.
He alleged that the incumbent’s camp went from door-to-door to secure nominations from those who had already nominated Muthupalaniappan, thus rendering the nominations invalid.
The former MIC vice-president, who vowed to bring massive reforms to the party if elected, confidently declared: “If my nomination goes through, I’ll become the president.”
Anyway, the following may be music to some ears:
Meanwhile, Samy Vellu said this would be his last presidential elections. “I will leave after this (term). I have nothing to hide. All the 3,640 MIC branch leaders are my bosses.”
Thanking God for being allowed to helm the party for a record 11th term, the president said he would relinquish the reins after training the next generation of leaders.
There is a hidden strategy here by Uncle Sam, which will become apparent in the next few months. I am not his fan and I agree with many of his distractors that he overstayed his welcome and should have left long ago. But in this case there is a reason he is still contesting, just wait and see (sorry i can’t reveal it for now).
BTW, while I agree Samy shld have left long ago at the same token, the criticisms by PR people is rather hypocritical. Lim Kit Siang and Karpal are both 68, Niz Aziz is 78, Anwar is 62 . So these PR folks are hardly spring chickens themselves.
the party name should be changed to semi value and son Ltd .