MIC will allow its Youth and Wanita wings to form their own branches as part of the party’s restructuring exercise.

Announcing this today, party president S Samy Vellu said each branch would operate as a separate entity, provided it had 50 or more members.

samy vellu and mic "We have received numerous complaints from Youth and Wanita grassroots leaders that branch leaders were hampering their work.

"Some decided to leave the party because of the 'red tape' created by some branch leaders. So to avoid this, we have decided to allow Youth and Wanita to form their own branches, provided they have 50 or more members.

"Despite the branch status, they would still be governed by the Youth and Wanita wings. We don't need a constitutional amendment for this. The Youth and Wanita (wings) will still have their annual general assemblies. This change is to allow them to operate independently," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

At present, MIC has about 3,700 branches nationwide and with the latest move, it is expected to have more branches.

However, Samy Vellu said that the number of divisions would remain at 150 nationwide.

YSS chief quits

In another development, the MIC president confirmed the resignation of Dr Denison Jayasooria, the executive director of the party’s social wing - Yayasan Strategik Social.

denison jayasooria "Everyone is looking for a better position. He said he wants to do new things and concentrate on church work. Yes, he has given his resignation but we have yet to decide whether to accept it," said Samy Vellu.

To a question, the MIC president said Denison was neither a MIC member nor a politician but was "just a MIC staff".

"The party did not want him to get involved in active politics as he was employed to do research and assist (the party) in policy-making decisions."

Meanwhile, Samy Vellu said MIC candidates who lost their respective seats at the recent general election were unlikely to file election petitions to overturn the election results in their respective constituencies.

At the polls, MIC contested nine parliamentary and 19 state seats under the Barisan Nasional banner, winning only three parliamentary and seven state constituencies.

The party lost one parliamentary and two state seats with a narrow margin. It lost the Hulu Selangor Parliamentary seat after MIC deputy president G. Palanivel was beaten by PKR’s Zainal Abidin Ahmad with a slim 198 vote majority.

The party candidate for the Bukit Melawati state seat in Selangor, K Partiban lost to M Mutiah also from PKR, with a 297 vote majority, while for the Port Dickson state seat in Negeri Sembilan, T Rajagopalu lost to PKR's M. Ravi with a 733 vote difference.

"Except for Hulu Selangor, I don't think we can argue. All those who won can enjoy their victories. I don't think we would go for election petitions," noted Samy Vellu.