Samy Vellu becomes MIC president for 11th time

Kuala Lumpur, Mar 23:Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) president S Samy Vellu has won the party presidency for a record 11th term, and has immediately declared it would be his last term in office.

His challenger M Muthupalaniappan failed to secure enough nominations, The Star reported.

In his acceptance speech, Samy Vellu said: "I will hand over control of the party to a younger leader at the right time."

He, however, did not identify his successor. MIC presidential election steering committee chief K Vijiyanathan declared Samy Vellu as the president from May 2009 to May 2012.

More than 1,500 supporters, who had gathered since early morning, clapped and cheered at the announcement, and later garlanded the veteran politician.

Muthupalaniappan, 66, was absent when the announcement was made.

Vijiyanathan said the nominations took place smoothly, with Samy Vellu obtaining 572 nominations while Muthupalaniappan submitted 53.

The election committee and MIC staff verified all nominations obtained by both candidates.

A total of 117 nominations for Samy Vellu and 48 nominations for Muthupalaniappan were rejected for non-compliance with the party constitution and election by-laws.

Candidates were required to have a minimum of 50 nominations to be eligible to contest for the president's post. This meant Muthupalaniappan, with only five valid nominations, failed to qualify.

Vijiyanathan said the nominations were rejected as many branch chairmen had nominated both candidates.

ANI