O. Panneerselvam

Panneerselvam started his political career periyakulam as a worker of the AIADMK in 1973 after M. G. Ramachandran split from the DMK. He was Chairman of Periyakulam Municipality from 1996 to 2001.

Panneerselvam with Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in 2017

He was sworn in as the 6th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in September 2001 when the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was barred from holding office by the Supreme Court of India. During his stint as Chief Minister, he was widely criticised for allegedly heading a puppet government managed by Jayalalithaa. His tenure lasted for six months, from 21 September 2001 to 1 March 2002. In March 2002, he resigned as Chief Minister and Jayalalithaa was sworn in again after the Madras high Court overturned her conviction and she won a by-election from Andipatti assembly constituency. From 2 March 2002 to 13 December 2003, he was the Minister for Public Works, Prohibition and Excise. Subsequently, he was also entrusted with the Revenue department's charge from 13 December 2003 to May 15, 2006.

After the party lost the assembly elections in May 2006, Panneerselvam was the leader of the AIADMK legislative party and the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for about nine days. In that election, he was elected to be the member of Tamil Nadu legislative assembly from Periyakulam.

In 2011, he contested as an AIADMK candidate from the Bodinayakkanur and won. Again, he became the Minister of Finance in Jayalalithaa's government and held the office from 16 May 2011 to 27 September 2014. He was again entrusted with the responsibility of being Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 29 September 2014 when Jayalalitha was convicted in the disproportionate assets case. On 22 May 2015, he resigned as Chief Minister and Jayalalithaa was sworn in again after the Karnataka High Court acquitted her in the disproportionate assets case on 11 May 2015.[11][12]

A year after his resignation, on 23 May 2015, he was sworn in as Minister for Finance and Public Works Department in Jayalalithaa's government.

On 6 December 2016, Panneerselvam was elected as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu following the death of incumbent Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.[13] On 10 December he held his first cabinet meeting as a full-term Chief Minister..[14] He tended his resignation as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 6 February 2017 to the governor, who accepted and appointed him as the caretaker Chief Minister of the state to avoid a leadership vacuum, until further measures could be taken..

On 14 February 2017, he was expelled from the AIADMK by party general-secretary, V. K. Sasikala. Shortly after his expulsion, the Governor invited the newly elected legislative leader of the AIADMK, Edappadi K Palaniswami to form the government, following which he took over as chief minister on 16 February 2017.[15]

After his exit from AIADMK Panneerselvam and his supporters appealed to the election commission to take action against the party General Secretary VKS and chief minister EPS .He also made a point to them that he needs the two leaf party symbol to contest in RK Nagar election. Also, Edappadi K. Palaniswami and supporters appealed against him, but the election commission rejected both the appeals and allotted two different symbols to each party.[16]

In August 2017 Edappadi K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam Faction merged. He was made Deputy Chief Minister and was also given finance Ministry.

On 21 August 2017, Panneerselvam took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on the same day of the Party Merger with then Chief Minister EPS faction.[17]

On 14 June 2022, Citing the party's troubles in the polls, AIADMK district secretaries and other senior party members spoke out to shun the “dual leadership” system and came out publicly in favor of strong unitary leader to strengthen the organisation.

Palaniswami supporters pushed for the change in the party's leadership structure by staging a political coup against AIADMK Coordinator Panneerselvam, who had become weak within the party. According to many sources, of the AIADMK's 75 district secretaries, hardly 10 supported him. Of the party's 66 MLAs, only five MLAs were reportedly on Panneerselvam side and less than 20 percent of the party's general council members behind him ahead of crucial general council meeting on 23 June 2022, which was expected to elect the single leadership to the party.[18][19][20]

On 30 June 2022, Palaniswami wrote a letter to Panneerselvam asserting the latter ceased to be the party coordinator as the amendments made to the party's bylaw in the 2020 December executive committee meeting were not recognised in the general council meeting held on June 23.[21][22]

On 11 July 2022, The Party General Council abolished the dual leadership model and empowered Palaniswami to be the Party Supremo.[23]

On 11 July 2022, Panneerselvam was expelled as Party Treasurer and primary member of the party for "anti-party" activities by the AIADMK General Council.[24][25][26] Dindigul Sreenivasan was made Party Treasurer succeeding him.[27] On 17 August, Justice G. Jayachandran of the Madras High Court ruled the expulsion of Panneerselvam and the decisions of the AIADMK General Council as invalid.[28] On 2 September 2022, a division bench of the High Court upheld the decisions of the AIADMK general council meeting held on 11 July 2022 and set aside the previous court order of the single judge in the appeal case of Palaniswami, thus effectively restoring unitary leadership.[29][30] On 12 September 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea of Panneerselvam challenging the order of Madras High Court to handover the keys to Palaniswami.[31] On 23 February 2023, the Supreme Court of India upheld the decisions of the AIADMK general council meeting held on 11 July 2022, and dismissed the petition of O. Panneerselvam challenging the previous order of the division bench, thus affirming unitary leadership under Edappadi K Palaniswami.[4][5] On 28 March 2023, The Madras High Court ruled in favor of Edappadi K. Palaniswami and dismissed the petitions of O. Panneerselvam challenging the resolutions passed at the general council meeting held on 11 July 2022. On the same day, AIADMK announced that Edappadi K. Palaniswami was elected as the general secretary through party's general secretary election.[32][33] On 20 April 2023, The Election Commission of India recognized Edappadi K Palaniswami as the AIADMK party general secretary, acknowledging the amendments to the party constitution and changes to list of office-bearers.[34][35]