Mohan said the credibility of the elections was marred by Vigneswaran’s admission of having lent a hand to R Nelson, one of the winning vice-presidents.
He said Vigneswaran’s decision to help his rival could be considered a conflict of interest as the latter was the chairman of the MIC election committee.
“How can an election committee chairman campaign for a candidate?” Mohan told FMT. “This violates the basic principles of a free and fair election in the party. He must not only be impartial but also seen to be impartial.
“I accept that I have lost which came as a shock to many members. But the president should not go around claiming it’s a totally fair election. His campaign for Nelson, who had the third highest number of votes, shows he was biased.”
Mohan, 51, also said he would stick by his stand to turn down offers to be one of the two appointed vice-presidents, and insisted he would remain in the party.
In an immediate response to an FMT report yesterday, Vigneswaran denied playing any part in Mohan’s loss in the party elections, saying that he too was surprised by the outcome.
He said he had no preference among the candidates vying for the three vice-president’s posts and left it to the delegates to make their choices with no restrictions whatsoever.
However, Vigneswaran admitted that he lent some support to Nelson, who was among the three who won the posts, and said the new vice-president was “not in the same league” as the three incumbents.
M Asojan and T Murugiah defended their vice-presidency, while Nelson, a newcomer, pipped Mohan by 58 votes for the third slot in the election of the party’s top leadership for the 2024-2027 term.
According to the final tally, Asojan obtained 8,633 votes, followed by Murugaiah (8,566), Nelson (8,338) and Mohan (8,280).
Quoting party insiders, FMT reported that Mohan’s unexpected loss in the party elections yesterday was due to him not being in the president’s “official list” despite him having strong grassroot support.
As for a claim by Vigneswaran that he was given the complete delegates’ list, Mohan said he only received the name list of all the chairmen of the 3,600 MIC branches.
“This is not the complete list. The chairmen are only one of the six delegates from each branch who are eligible to vote. Even in general elections candidates get the full voters list to assist them in their campaign.”