Marumalarchi Indian Congress Baru (popularly known as MIC Baru) submitted its application to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) today.

After an earlier report claiming that the party had already been registered, national news agency Bernama later clarified that it is still awaiting the approval of the ROS.

The application was submitted by the party's leader P Ganapathy, who was accompanied by about 200 supporters, at the ROS office in Kuala Lumpur.

He also expressed hope that no speculation would arise regarding the party following the successful submission of its application.

Marumalarhci loosely translated in Tamil means 'the second rising'.

Police report

The formation of the new party was announced last week. Yesterday, MIC secretary-general S Sothinathan filed a report with the Sentul district police headquarters over the matter.

In the report, he stated that those who wished to form the new party had violated the Societies Act 1996 which stipulates that they must get the permission of the ROS before making an announcement.

Apart from this, they claimed that using the term MIC Baru also contravened the Act.

Ganapthy had claimed that MIC Baru would represent some 50,000 to 100,000 former MIC members.

He said the new entity would serve as a platform for those who are out of MIC but remain supportive of Barisan Nasional and have no intentions of joining any other component parties.

He also denied that the new party was linked to MIC deputy president S Subramaniam, who later confirmed this.

However, another question was recently raised as to whether the new party was part of a strategy to end the deputy president's political career.