Contrary to a Tamil newspaper report, MIC secretary-general S Sothinathan today said that only 10 out of the 4,300 party branches nationwide have not received their 'B' forms.

Without the forms, issued by the party headquarters, the branches will not be able to hold their annual meetings early next month.

On Thursday, a Tamil newspaper claimed that 100 branches were not issued the forms and described this as politically motivated.

Check the facts

However, Sothinathan denied the existence of any political motives. He said the 10 branches were not allowed hold their meetings due to several reasons.

"Out of the 4,300 branches, we only disallowed 10. It would be wrong to say that the move was politically motivated," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

"The 10 branches were not given the B forms because they have administrative problems or they have not been functioning but claim to be active or the branch membership has fallen below the 100 members required for a branch to function," he added.

Sothinathan, on the other hand, questioned the motive of the Tamil newspaper over the report.

"To say that the headquarters has disallowed so many branches to hold their meetings is wrong. We never did that. I don't know who is politically motivated now ... the newspaper or the MIC headquarters," he said.

He said the media should first check with the MIC headquarters or the secretary-general himself if there was an allegation against the party before printing the story.

"I consider this (the newspaper report) as a lie. They should practice proper reporting and the best source is either myself or the (party) headquarters," he added.

Election year

MIC - the country's largest Indian-based political party - will have its elections this year.

The branch elections will be held early next month and the divisional elections in March. The party will hold its elections for the top national office-bearers, except the president's post, in June. The MIC presidential election is slated for March.

The MIC adopts a slightly different procedure among the Barisan Nasional component parties in electing its leaders. The president is picked by branch office-bearers if there is contest while divisional delegates vote in all the other top party leaders.

The divisional delegates are made up of the branch chairmen, deputy chairmen or secretary.

Fireworks are expected at this year's contest after party president S Samy Vellu openly sidelined his long term deputy S Subramaniam and endorsed current vice-president G Palanivel for the number two slot.