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Edappadi K. Palaniswami

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In this Indian name, the name Edappadi Karuppa Gounder is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Palaniswami.

Edappadi Karuppa Palaniswami (born 12 May 1954), often referred to by his initials E.P.S., is an Indian politician who is the current leader of opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. He served as the 7th chief minister of Tamil Nadu, from 2017 to 2021. He has been the General Secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) since 28 March 2023. Previously, Palaniswami has served as the interim general secretary (2022–23), joint co-ordinator (2017–22) and headquarters secretary (2016–22) of AIADMK.

Edappadi K. Palaniswami
18th Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office
11 May 2021
Deputy
Chief MinisterM. K. Stalin
Preceded byM. K. Stalin
ConstituencyEdappadi
7th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
In office
16 February 2017 – 6 May 2021
Governor
CabinetPalaniswami ministry
Preceded byO. Panneerselvam
Succeeded byM. K. Stalin
ConstituencyEdappadi
Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office
23 May 2011
Preceded byV. Kaveri
ConstituencyEdappadi
In office
6 February 1989 – 12 May 1996
Preceded byGovindaswamy
Succeeded byI. Ganesan
ConstituencyEdappadi
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999
Preceded byK. P. Ramalingam
Succeeded byM. Kannappan
ConstituencyTiruchengode
6th General Secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Incumbent
Assumed office
28 March 2023
Deputy
Preceded byJ. Jayalalithaa
Interim General Secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
In office
11 July 2022 – 27 March 2023
Deputy
Preceded byV. K. Sasikala (Acting)
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Joint Coordinator of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
In office
21 August 2017 – 23 June 2022
Deputy
CoordinatorO. Panneerselvam
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Headquarters Secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
In office
8 June 2016 – 12 July 2022
General Secretary
Coordinators
Preceded byP. Palaniappan
Succeeded byS. P. Velumani
Personal details
Born
Palaniswami

(1954-05-12) 12 May 1954 (age 70)[1]
Siluvampalayam, Salem district, Madras State, India
(present-day Tamil Nadu)[1]
Political partyAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
SpouseRatha Palaniswami
ChildrenMithun Kumar (son)
Parents
  • V. Karuppa Gounder (father)
  • Thavasi Ammal (mother)
Residences
Profession
  • Agriculturalist
  • politician
Awards
Nickname(s)Puratchi Tamilar, Edappadiyaar, E.P.S.

Born in 1954 in Salem district in the erstwhile Madras State, Palaniswami became an agriculturalist before entering into politics in 1974. Palaniswami has represented Edappadi since 2011 as Member of the Legislative Assembly, previously also serving from 1989 to 1996. In the 1998 Indian general election he was elected as Member of Parliament of the Lok Sabha representing Tiruchengode. Post the 2011 assembly elections, he served as the minister of highways and minor ports in the Jayalalithaa cabinet. After 2016 assembly elections, he also served as the ministry of public works in the cabinet.

Early and personal life

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Palaniswami was born on 12 May 1954 to Karuppa Gounder and Thavasiyammal at Siluvampalayam, Salem district, Madras State (now Tamil Nadu).[1][2] After completing school, he completed B.Sc. from Sri Vasavi College.[3][1] His parents were involved in agriculture and Palaniswami also chose to get involved in the same.[4][5] He has two siblings, a brother Govindraj and a sister Ranjitham. He is married to Ratha and they have a son.[6][4][1]

Political career

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Early years (1974-2010)

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Palaniswami entered politics in 1974 enrolling himself as a volunteer in All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).[6] He was first elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in 1989, representing Edappadi constituency, and won the re-election in 1991 from the same constituency.[7][8] He lost from the same constituency in the 1996 assembly elections.[9] In the 1998 general election, he was elected Member of Parliament, representing Tiruchengodu constituency in the 12th Lok Sabha.[10] He subsequently lost the 1999 and 2004 general elections from the same constituency. He contested from Edappadi again in the 2006 assembly elections and lost.[11] He was appointed propaganda secretary of AIADMK in July 2006 and later as organising secretary in August 2007.[12]

Cabinet minister (2011-17)

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He was re-elected from Edappadi constituency in the 2011 assembly election.[13] He was appointed as the minister of highways and minor ports in the Jayalalithaa cabinet.[14] He served as the district secretary of AIADMK for Salem suburban district from June 2011 to April 2022.[15][16] In 2014, he was appointed as the member of the disciplinary committee of AIADMK.[17] He was again re-elected from the same constituency in the 2016 assembly election.[18] After 2016 assembly elections, he also served as the ministry of public works in the cabinet.[19] In 2016, he was appointed headquarters secretary of AIADMK, succeeding P. Palaniappan.[20]

Chief minister (2017-21)

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See also: Palaniswami ministry
 
Palaniswami in 2018

Palaniswami became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in February 2017, following the resignation of O. Panneerselvam, who was the chief minister in the interim after the demise of former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa in December 2016.[21] He was sworn in on 16 February 2017 along with a 32-member cabinet and also held charge of home, prohibition and excise.[22]

In March 2017, he introduced the Kudimaramaththu scheme for restoring minor irrigation tanks and lakes in the state.[23] In May 2018, police opened fire on protests against a copper plant owned by Vedanta that was allegedly polluting groundwater in Thoothukudi, killing 13 people.[24] While the act was later termed as "self-defence" by a one-man commission, the Government of Tamil Nadu ordered the permanent closure of the plant on 28 May 2018.[25][26][27] His administration was lauded for its preparedness and efforts to tackle the Cyclone Gaja that hit Tamil Nadu in November 2018.[28] In August 2019, Palaniswami introduced dedicated patrol vehicles (Amma patrol) to ascertain the security of women and children in public places.[29]

In the 2019 Indian general election, AIADMK under the leadership of Palaniswami, contested in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and won only a single seat.[30][31] In 2019, Palaniswami launched the Yaadhum Oore programme aimed at garnering foreign investment in the state. He visited United States, United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates to promote the same.[32] In February 2020, the Government of Tamil Nadu declared the Kaveri delta region as a protected special agriculture zone.[33][34] In May 2020, the government passed an order for reservation of 7.5% of seats in government medical colleges to students from public schools while also announcing a plan to set up eleven new government medical colleges with 1,650 seats.[35][36][37]

Under his governance, Tamil Nadu was rated amongst the top states based on a composite index in the context of sustainable development according to the Public Affairs Index released by the Public Affairs Center in October 2020.[38] During the coronavirus pandemic, Tamil Nadu was one of the few states that did not register negative growth.[39] Tamil Nadu was ranked as the best performing big state from the year 2018 to 2021 based on a study conducted by India Today.[40][41]

Leader of the opposition (2021–present)

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AIADMK lost the 2021 assembly elections and Palaniswami resigned as the chief-minister on 6 May 2021.[42][43][44] He won for the third consecutive time from the Edappadi constituency and was elected as the leader of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.[45][46]

In June 2022, district secretaries and senior party members of AIADMK spoke out against the “dual leadership” system of Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam.[47] The supporters of Palaniswami pushed for the change in the party's leadership structure to appoint him as the general secretary of AIADIMK ahead of the general council meeting on 23 June 2022, which was expected to elect the leadership of the party.[48][49] In June 2022, Palaniswami wrote to Panneerselvam asserting the latter ceased to be the party coordinator as the amendments made to the party's bylaw in the 2021 December executive committee meeting were not recognised in the general council meeting held on 23 June.[50][51]

On 11 July 2022, the general council of AIADMK abolished the dual leadership model, appointing Palaniswami as the interim chief and expelled Panneerselvam and his loyalists from the primary memberships of the party for "anti-party" activities.[52][53][54][55] While on 17 August, the Madras High Court nullified the decisions of the AIADMK general council and ordered maintaining a status quo, a division bench later upheld the decisions and set aside the previous court order on 2 September 2022.[56][57] On 23 February 2023, the Supreme Court of India upheld the later order of the Madras High Court, effectively handing the leadership of the party to Palaniswami.[58] On 28 March 2023, AIADMK announced that Palaniswami was elected as the general secretary through party's general secretary election.[59][60] On 20 April 2023, the Election Commission of India recognised Palaniswami as the general secretary, acknowledging the amendments to the party constitution and changes to list of office-bearers.[61][62] On 20 August 2023, a conference was held at Madurai led by Palaniswami as a part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the founding of AIADMK.[63][64] On 25 September 2023, Palaniswami led AIADMK officially left the National Democratic Alliance ahead of the 2024 Indian general election.[65][66][67]

In the aftermath of the 2023 Chennai floods, Palaniswami demanded the chief minister of Tamil Nadu to release a white paper on the completed and ongoing stormwater drain work in Chennai and further criticised the state government for the lack of preparedness.[68][69] In the 2024 general election, Palaniswami led AIADMK formed an alliance with Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, Puthiya Tamilagam, and Social Democratic Party of India and contested 36 seats in the state of Tamil Nadu and one eac in the union territories of Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The party-led alliance failed to win any seats in the elections.[70]

Elections contested and positions held

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Lok Sabha elections

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Elections Lok Sabha Constituency Political party Result Vote percentage Opposition
Candidate Political party Vote percentage
1998 12th Tiruchengode AIADMK Won 54.70 K. P. Ramalingam DMK 40.89
1999 13th Tiruchengode AIADMK Lost 48.53 M. Kannappan MDMK 49.08
2004 14th Tiruchengode AIADMK Lost 37.27 Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan DMK 58.02

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections

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Elections Assembly Constituency Political party Result Vote percentage Opposition
Candidate Political party Vote percentage
1989 9th Edappadi AIADMK(J) Won 33.08 L. Palanisamy DMK 31.62
1991 10th Edappadi AIADMK Won 58.24 P. Kolandai Gounder PMK 25.03
1996 11th Edappadi AIADMK Lost 28.21 I. Ganesan PMK 37.68
2006 13th Edappadi AIADMK Lost 41.06 V. Kaveri PMK 44.80
2011 14th Edappadi AIADMK Won 56.38 M. Karthe PMK 37.66
2016 15th Edappadi AIADMK Won 43.74 N. Annadurai PMK 25.12
2021 16th Edappadi AIADMK Won 65.97 Sampath Kumar DMK 28.04

Positions in Parliament of the Republic of India

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Elections Position Constituency Term in office
Assumed office Left office Time in office
1998 Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha Tiruchengode 10 March 1998 26 April 1999 1 year, 47 days

Positions in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly

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Elections Position Constituency Term in office
Assumed office Left office Time in office
1989 Member of Legislative Assembly Edappadi 6 February 1989 30 January 1991 1 year, 358 days
1991 Member of Legislative Assembly Edappadi 1 July 1991 13 May 1996 4 years, 317 days
2011 Minister for Highways & Minor Ports Edappadi 16 May 2011 21 May 2016 5 years, 5 days
2011 Minister for Forests Edappadi 23 May 2015 8 August 2015 77 days
2016 Minister for Public Works, Highways & Minor Ports Edappadi 23 May 2016 15 February 2017 268 days
2016 Chief Minister Edappadi 16 February 2017 6 May 2021 4 years, 79 days
2021 Leader of the Opposition Edappadi 11 May 2021 Incumbent 3 years, 177 days

Awards and honours

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Palaniswami was awarded a Honorary Doctorate by Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute in 2019.[71] He was announced as a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International in July 2020.[72]

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edappadi K Palaniswami.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Biographical Sketch of Member of 12th Lok Sabha". loksabhaph.nic.in. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Profile, Palaniswami". Government of Tamil Nadu. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Honorable Chief Minister, 15th assembly". Government of Tamil Nadu. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  4. ^ a b Thangavelu, Dharani (15 February 2017). "Who is Edappadi K. Palaniswami?". Mint. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017.
  5. ^ Mariappan, Julie (13 October 2020). "Edappadi K Palaniswami Mother: Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami's mother Dhavusayammal dies aged 93". The Times of India. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  6. ^ a b Menon, Jaya (3 May 2021). "From jaggery farmer to Tamil Nadu CM, Edappadi K Palaniswami". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  7. ^ 1989 Tamil Nadu Election Results (PDF) (Report). Election Commission of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 October 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  8. ^ 1991 Tamil Nadu Election Results (PDF) (Report). Election Commission of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  9. ^ 1996 Election report (Report). Election Commission of India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  10. ^ 1998 General Election Results (Report). Election Commission of India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  11. ^ 2006 Election report (Report). Election Commission of India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  12. ^ "Edapadi Palanisami is the opposition leader". Puthiya Thalaimurai (in Tamil). 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  13. ^ 2011 Election report (Report). Election Commission of India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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  31. ^ 18. Partywise Seat Won Valid Votes Polled in Each State. Election Commission of India (Report). 11 October 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
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  35. ^ "Tamil Nadu Govt Passes Order for 7.5% Quota in Medical Admissions for Govt School Students". News18. 29 October 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  36. ^ "Tamil Nadu govt to set up medical colleges in 11 districts, add 1,650 seats". Business Standard. 26 October 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
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  38. ^ "Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa best governed States: report". The Hindu. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  39. ^ Menon, Amarnath (27 November 2021). "Best performing big state overall: Tamil Nadu". India Today. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
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  42. ^ "TN CM Palaniswami resigns, Guv accepts it; dissolves Assembly". India Today. PTI. 3 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  43. ^ "EPS quits as CM, flurry of resignations at Secretariat". DT next. 4 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  44. ^ "Edappadi K. Palaniswami elected AIADMK legislature party leader". The Hindu. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  45. ^ Mariappan, Julie (10 May 2021). "Edappadi K Palaniswami to be leader of opposition in Tamil Nadu assembly". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  46. ^ "Edappadi Palaniswami elected as Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly". The New Indian Express. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
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  50. ^ "Tamil Nadu: Indicating OPS is no longer AIADMK coordinator, EPS says his letter on local body polls invalid". Indian Express. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  51. ^ "You are no longer AIADMK coordinator, EPS tells OPS". Hindustan Times. 1 July 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  52. ^ "AIADMK Tussle: Court Setback For OPS, Rival EPS Takes Charge". NDTV. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  53. ^ "OPS Expelled from AIADMK Through Special Resolution After EPS Takes Control of Party". News18. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  54. ^ "AIADMK Tussle: EPS Is New Boss, Rival OPS Expelled". NDTV. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  55. ^ "AIADMK general council anoints Edappadi K Palaniswami as party interim general secretary". The Times of India. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  56. ^ R. Sivakumar (17 August 2022). "OPS wins legal battle in Madras HC, dual leadership to continue in AIADMK for now". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  57. ^ S, Mohamed Imranullah (2 September 2022). "AIADMK leadership tussle: Division Bench of Madras High Court reverses earlier order in favour of OPS". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  58. ^ "Supreme Court rejects Paneerselvam's plea, Palaniswamy to continue as AIADMK general secretary". Indian Express. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  59. ^ Mariappan, Julie (28 March 2023). "EPS becomes AIADMK general secretary; OPS petition rejected in Madras HC". The Times of India. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
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  61. ^ AIADMK Amended Constitution dated 20.04.2023 (Report). Election Commission of India. 20 April 2023.
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  63. ^ "AIADMK golden jubilee conference kicks off in Madurai". The Hindu. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  64. ^ "Palaniswami inaugurates AIADMK's Madurai conference". Deccan Herald. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
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  66. ^ "AIADMK severs ties with BJP-led NDA; to form front to fight 2024 LS polls". Deccan Herald. 25 September 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  67. ^ "AIADMK snaps ties with BJP-led NDA alliance ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls". The Indian Express. 25 September 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  68. ^ "Cyclone Michaung:Palaniswami holds Stalin responsible for 'lack of preparedness'". The Hindu. 10 December 2023. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  69. ^ "Cyclone Michaung; AIADMK calls for release of white paper on stormwater drain work in Chennai". The Hindu. 7 December 2023. Archived from the original on 14 December 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  70. ^ Prasad, S (4 June 2024). "Tamil Nadu election results 2024: DMK alliance sweeps Cuddalore, Villupuram, and Kallakurichi". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  71. ^ "Honorary doctorate conferred on EPS". Indian Express. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  72. ^ "EPS honoured with Paul Harris Fellow recognition". Indian Express. 11 July 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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