KUALA LUMPUR: Incumbent MIC vice-presidents Datuk T Mohan and Datuk T. Murugiah both defended their positions at the party election while Datuk M Asojan emerged as the new face to clinch the third and final seat.
Based on the results distributed to the media, Mohan retained his position by securing 11,586 votes followed by Murugiah (9,139) and Asojan (8,703).
Datuk C. Sivaraajh, A.K Ramalingam and Datuk V. Gunalan, who also challenged for the three vice-president positions failed in their bid.
The results were announced by party deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan at the MIC headquarters here today.
Meanwhile, among those who secured Central Working Committee (CWC) posts were former Deputy Education Minister Datuk P. Kamalananthan, Datuk S.M. Muthu, Datuk N. Muneandy, Datuk Subramaniam Karuppiah, Gunaselan Rajoo, D. Tharma Kumaran and M. Veeran.
The party election this time around saw more than 20,000 delegates from 140 party divisions nationwide elect the three vice-presidents and 21 CWC members.
Mohan, when met by reporters, said the high number of votes received was a manifestation of the party members' confidence in his leadership.
As such, he promised to give his best to the party and the people through cooperation with other top-level MIC leaders.
"This is important because the Indian community's support for MIC is on the rise again based on the party's ability to win the Gadek seat in the recent Melaka state election. I believe when the party is strong, the people will believe in the party," he said.
Murugiah described his win as a signal that party members wanted new and credible leaders so that more efforts can be taken to help the people, while Asojan said he will make full use of his new party position to strengthen MIC towards wresting the seats that the party had lost in the 14th general election (GE14).
"With my three-term experience as former Gambir assemblyman and also as Johor state executive councillor, I will ensure we (MIC machinery) work hard to shore up support for GE15," he said. --BERNAMA